Monday, July 11, 2011

Vegas DA to look into Pacman's new arrest

Clark County District Attorney David Roger said that before he takes the case to a Nevada judge, he'll review police accounts of the arrest of the 27-year-old Cincinnati Bengals cornerback on resisting arrest and misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges at an Ohio bar. Jones was sentenced to one year of probation in February for his role in a 2007 Las Vegas strip club melee that left three people shot. "One of the conditions of his probation was that he stay out of trouble," Roger told The Associated Press. "We haven't seen the reports yet." Jones' lawyer in Las Vegas, Robert Langford, told AP that based on his client's account of the arrest, charges in Ohio may have to be dropped. Langford declined to provide specifics.

Vegas DA to look into Pacman's new arrest


"Based on the facts I've heard, it will resolve in our favor," he said. The case adds to a list of off-field troubles for Jones, the 2005 first-round draft pick of the Tennessee Titans. He's been arrested at least six other times over the years, and has been involved in about a dozen situations that included police intervention. He was suspended by the league for the entire 2007 season and six games in 2008 following off-field incidents. He sat out the 2009 season before signing a two-year deal in May 2010 to play for Cincinnati. Authorities in Cincinnati reported Jones tried to pull away from police after he was accused of shouting profanities in a Cincinnati bar. Jones denied the allegations after leaving jail. He told WCPO-TV in that he hadn't been drinking and was out with his wife to celebrate her birthday. "I was not yelling at the police. I did not yell profanity at the police," he said. Jones, who was wearing a neck brace, said he had been recovering from a neck injury that required surgery but was expecting to play this year. A Bengals spokesman said the team had no comment on the most recent arrest. The team is prohibited from having contact with Jones because of the NFL lockout. Roger is the Nevada prosecutor who gained a 2008 jury conviction of Pro Football Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson in a 2007 armed robbery and kidnapping case. Simpson is now serving nine to 33 years in a Nevada prison. Roger said it could be several weeks before he receives and reviews the Cincinnati police reports on Jones' arrest and decides whether to take the case to a Clark County District Court judge. "We're in a holding pattern until then," he said. Jones pleaded no contest in December 2007 in Las Vegas to conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, after agreeing to testify against the accused shooter in the strip club melee during NBA All-Star Weekend. Authorities had blamed Jones for instigating the fracas by showering strippers with hundreds of $1 bills. The shootings occurred minutes after Jones and his entourage were ejected from the club. A bouncer, Tommy Urbanski, was left paralyzed from the waist down. The shooter, Arvin Kenti Edwards, 32, of Renton, Wash., has pleaded an equivalent of no contest to attempted murder with a deadly weapon. He is being held at the Clark County jail pending sentencing July 21. A co-defendant with Jones, Robert Reid, 31, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct. He is free pending sentencing Aug. 25. Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press