Ex-NBA player Javaris Crittenton -- who is currently facing murder charges for a shooting death two weeks ago in Atlanta -- appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday (August 31) to waive California extradition proceedings and is set to return to Georgia to face the music.
He was apprehended Monday night (August 29) at John Wayne International Airport by a fugitive task force of FBI agents and LAPD officers, the same day the FBI issued a federal warrant against him for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
He has been in custody since being arrested, and will remain jailed without bail until he is transferred to Atlanta.
Crittenton is wanted for the August 19th shooting of 23-year-old mother of four, named Julian Jones. He allegedly shot her in a drive-by after he believed to have spotted an individual who robbed him in April.
Jones was declared dead at a nearby hospital. She was not the intended target.
Witnesses told police the shots were fired from a black Chevrolet Tahoe linked to Crittenton, near Jones' Macon Drive home in southwest Atlanta.
Crittenton's attorney, Brian Steel, told the Associated Press that his client is being falsely accused, and stated that the facts of the case will come out at the preliminary hearing. "Crittenton wants to do everything lawful because he did nothing," the attorney said.
The judge said Crittenton will be returned to Atlanta between September 15 and 30, but Steel said he would seek to have him returned sooner.
Crittenton is from Fayetteville, Ga.. He was drafted by the Los Lakers in 2007, but was traded in his rookie year to the Memphis Grizzlies.
He then played with the Washington Wizard, but his NBA career sputtered in 2009 when he and then-teammate Gilbert Arenas pulled guns on each other ... which resulted in both being at the center of controversy, and season-long suspensions. Crittenton hasn't been able to get back on track since.
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