Former SW Atlanta Christian Academy B-Ball Star and Former Laker, Indicted for 2011 Murder

Update: Javaris Crittenton turned himself into Fulton County Jail officials on Thursday afternoon on murder charges. His attorney told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his client has filed motions for a speedy trial. If released, the former Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy and Georgia Tech basketball star will remain under the same $230,000 bond he posted upon his release two years ago when was originally arrested.

Original Story: Javaris Crittenton, who was a basketball standout at both Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy and Georgia Tech, was indicted by a Fulton County grand jury on Tuesday on murder charges stemming from the 2011 drive-by shooting of a 22-year-old Atlanta mother of four.

Crittenton, 25, and his cousin, Douglas Gamble, are charged in the shooting death of Julian Jones as she walked on Macon Drive near Cleveland Avenue, and the attempted murder of another man.

Crittenton was a McDonald’s All American high school player and then averaged 14.4 points per game in his lone season at Georgia Tech before being selected 19th overall in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers.

Police say that Crittenton, who has maintained his innocence since his September, 2011 arrest, joined a Los Angeles gang not long after being drafted by the Lakers.

“He is involved with the Mansfield Gangster Crips, based out of Los Angeles,” Fulton County Assistant District Attorney and gang prosecutor Gabe Banks said as reported by the Atlanta Journal-Consititution. “This is very disconcerting to our office that gang activity extends beyond street level.”

In addition to murder, felony murder and participation in criminal street gang activity charges in connection with Jones's death, the 12-count grand jury indictment included charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, giving false statements, and attempted murder.

On the night of Aug. 19, 2011, Jones was walking near 2915 Macon Drive in the Glenrose Heights community in the greater east Atlanta area when she was shot in the leg and later succumbed to her injuries. Jones was not the intended victim as she was walking with a group that included, according to police, the man Crittenton believed had robbed him at gunpoint of more than $55,000 in jewelry in April of that year.

Less than a week before Jones’s death, prosecutors say Crittenton fired on, but missed, a man who is the brother of a man who Banks indicated is a member of a local set of the Bloods gang known as R.O.C. Crew.

Banks also said that Crittenton’s gang involvement made him a witness to a murder in California that could be revealed in the Atlanta trial facts. Crittenton has been free on $230,000 bond since his 2011 arrest.

In two NBA seasons with three teams, Crittenton appeared in 113 games and averaged 5.3 points per contest.

This is not the first incident in which deadly force was sought to be used by Crittenton to resolve a conflict. In December, 2009, Crittenton and his Washington Wizards teammate, Gilbert Arenas, were suspended for 50 games without pay by the NBA for bringing unloaded pistols into the team's locker room. The dispute was over a gambling debt that Arena's owed Crittenton. Both men brandished pistols before the team and the coaches. 

Both individuals were charged as Arenas pled guilty to a felony gun charge and Crittenton pled guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge.

See Also

Jarvaris Crittenton Arrested in Los Angeles