| Lawyers: 'Pacman' Jones will fight Las Vegas charges |
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| Written by Admin |
| Thursday, 21 June 2007 11:58 |
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LAS VEGAS (AP) - Suspended NFL player Adam ``Pacman'' Jones will surrender to authorities in Nevada and fight felony charges in a strip club melee that preceded a triple shooting. Lawyers for the Tennessee Titans cornerback disclosed their client's plans Thursday. Attorneys Manny Arora and Robert Langford, however, said they had no information about a deadline of noon Friday set by police. Arora said he was working with Clark County District Attorney David Roger's office on arrangements for Jones to surrender Friday or Monday in Las Vegas. Roger declined comment and said police were handling negotiations. Las Vegas police Capt. James Dillon confirmed that authorities gave Jones, Sadia Morrison and Robert Reid until midday Friday to turn themselves in or face arrest in the melee at the Minxx strip club that took place during the NBA All-Star Game weekend. Police have described Reid as Jones' bodyguard, and Morrison as a member of an entourage of about six people who arrived with Jones before the pre-dawn Feb. 19 fracas at the club, several blocks off the Las Vegas Strip. The charges in Las Vegas have cast more doubt on Jones' playing status with the Titans. Since he was drafted in April 2005, he has been arrested five times - although he has not been convicted of any crimes. Jones has been involved in at least 11 separate police investigations, authorities say, and is currently sought by Atlanta-area police for questioning in a shooting early Monday after a fight at a strip club there. The NFL and Titans owner K.S. ``Bud'' Adams Jr. declined comment about Jones until he serves at least 10 weeks of his season-long suspension. The 23-year-old player faces two counts of felony coercion stemming from accusations he threatened to kill Minxx club employees and that he bit a bar bouncer. Coercion is the act of threatening or physically interfering with a person trying to do something that he or she has a right and responsibility to do. If convicted, Jones faces a maximum of 12 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Arora accused police of leaking information about Jones because he is a celebrity. He said investigative reports were released before charges were filed and before arrest warrants were issued. ``Police keep saying they want to treat him like everyone else,'' Arora said. ``It's infuriating. He isn't being treated like everyone else.'' Langford also represents Reid, 37, of Carson, Calif., who faces one felony coercion charge alleging he attacked a bouncer who tried to restrain Jones, and Morrison, 25, of New York. Morrison faces five charges, including coercion, felony assault with a deadly weapon and battery stemming from allegations that she hit a bouncer in the head with a bottle and attacked other club employees with a chair and a stanchion. No one is identified as the shooter, which left a club employee paralyzed and a bouncer and female patron with less serious wounds. But police contend Jones instigated the mayhem inside the club by attacking a dancer who tried to pick up cash Jones showered on stage from a plastic trash bag. Jones is accused of threatening the life of club employees, punching a man whom police identify as his own business manager, and walking away from the club with a man wearing a baggy black T-shirt and blue jeans. Minutes later, police say a similarly dressed man standing next to a palm tree fired five or six shots toward people at the front of the club. Police have released an image of a person who Dillon said police wanted to identify and talk with as a ``person of interest'' in the shooting.'' Dillon said Las Vegas police also wanted to question Jones in a fight reported at another area strip club several days before the Minxx shooting. That fight is not cited in court records, and Dillon did not immediately provide details. |
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