Jury selection will begin Tuesday for former Georgia Tech basketball standout and top NBA draft pick Javaris Crittenton, accused of killing a mother of four in August 2011.
Crittenton, 27, and his cousin and co-defendant Douglas Gamble, 29, each are charged with murder, felony murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and participation in criminal street gang activity, the Fulton County District Attorney said Monday.
Crittenton and Gamble are accused of killing 23-year-old Julian Jones and wounding another man in separate shootings that investigators have said were likely gang-related retaliation.
In April 2011, Crittenton was robbed a gunpoint by two teens who took a black diamond watch worth $30,000, a black diamond necklace worth $25,000, an iPhone and a small amount of cash, he told police.
Then on Aug. 19 of that year, Jones was killed in a drive-by shooting outside of her southeast Atlanta home, according to police. At the time, police said Crittenton possibly shot at Jones thinking she was a perpetrator in the earlier robbery, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
But Jones was outside talking to neighbors and had just put the kids to bed, Harel Butler, Jones’ boyfriend, told the AJC. Butler said he had dropped Jones off about 30 minutes earlier, and the two planned to go out later that evening on a date. Butler said he and Jones had been together nearly 10 years, and he had bought an engagement ring he planned to give her.
“I never got a chance to do that,” Butler said.
Five days before the fatal shooting, a gunman fired shots from the driver’s seat of a Porsche aimed at a man on Mount Zion Road, according to police. That man was not injured.
In April 2013, a Grand Jury indicted Crittenton and Gamble on murder charges. Crittenton was later released from jail on bond, but re-arrested during a drug sting in January 2014. He remained Monday in the Fulton County jail. Gamble is out on bond, booking records showed.
Crittenton, of Fayetteville, is a former AJC “Mr. Basketball” and high school star at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy who then played at Georgia Tech. He was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the 2007 NBA Draft and was traded his rookie year to the Memphis Grizzlies.
While playing for the Washington Wizards, Crittenton was involved in a December 2009 locker room incident with then-teammate Gilbert Arenas in which the two pulled guns on each other. On Jan. 25, 2010, Crittenton pleaded guilty and was given a year of probation on a misdemeanor gun possession charge. Two days later, Crittenton and Arenas were suspended for the rest of the season.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shawn LaGrua’s courtroom.
About the Author
