duncan228
01-06-2009, 10:03 PM
The AP story:
J.R. Smith facing traffic charges from fatal crash (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-playerinjured-crash&prov=ap&type=lgns)
The local story out of NJ.
Monmouth grand jury declines to indict Denver Nugget from New Jersey (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/monmouth_grand_jury_refuses_to.html)
by Mary Ann Spoto
A Monmouth County grand jury has declined to indict Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith for his role in a crash that killed his close friend 18 months ago.
Instead, the star basketball player with a checkered driving record will appear in Municipal Court next week to face other charges stemming from the fatal car accident of June 2007.
And the deadly collision doesn't appear to have slowed Smith down. He continued to rack up speeding tickets despite a public pledge to improve his driving skills, state motor vehicle records show.
The star, who is earning between $4 million and $5 million in the first year of a contract, has had his license suspended for two years in New Jersey and has been ordered to attend driver-improvement school.
More than a year after the deadly collision in Millstone, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office presented the case to a grand jury, which decided on Oct. 29 not to file charges against Smith, whose real name is Earl J. Smith 3d, said First Assistant Prosecutor Peter Warshaw Jr.
A grand jury could have indicted Smith on a vehicular homicide charge, an offense that carries a prison term. He still faces motor vehicle summonses, which are scheduled to be heard in Millstone Municipal Court on Jan. 13, according to court personnel.
Kevin Hexstall, the Philadelphia attorney who represented Smith for the grand jury proceeding, declined to comment on the outcome and said it is unclear whether Smith will ask for an adjournment for the municipal court case.
"We'll figure it out closer to that date,'' said Hexstall, who has represented other NBA athletes in civil and criminal matters.
The attorney representing Smith on the traffic violations did not return calls to his office.
A star at Lakewood High School and St. Benedict's Prep in Newark before turning pro, Smith was driving a 2003 white GMC Yukon when he pulled around a car stopped at a stop sign and into the path of an oncoming car, according to police.
The collision ejected him and his friend, Andre Bell, 21, of East Orange. Neither man was wearing a seat belt. Bell died two days later of serious head injuries. A third passenger, former Seton Hall basketball player Carl Marshall, was wearing his seat belt in the front seat and was not seriously injured. Smith sprained his left shoulder.
Smith was cited for failing to stop at a stop sign and improper passing. At the time of the accident, he had amassed 27 points and five suspensions on his license in less than a year.
After the crash, Smith told reporters in Denver that he's "got to take things a lot more slower and be a lot more cautious and careful.''
But his driving record after that public pronouncement speaks otherwise.
Between August 2007 and October 2008, he accumulated two more speeding tickets and three more suspensions.
Sandy Grossman, spokeswoman for the state Division of Motor Vehicles, said Smith was issued a ticket for speeding in Colorado on Feb. 19, 2008, and again on March 1, 2008. Each of those offenses added two points to his already bloated driving record. His driver's license was suspended on March 12 for the fatal accident and again on May 26 for the excessive points, Grossman said.
On July 8, an administrative law judge ordered his license suspended for two years and directed that he attend driver improvement school and undergo driver reexamination, which would include a road test, Grossman said. He is not eligible to have his license reinstated until Aug. 29, 2010, and still has 25 points, which do not include the charges from the fatal accident, she said.
J.R. Smith facing traffic charges from fatal crash (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-playerinjured-crash&prov=ap&type=lgns)
The local story out of NJ.
Monmouth grand jury declines to indict Denver Nugget from New Jersey (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/monmouth_grand_jury_refuses_to.html)
by Mary Ann Spoto
A Monmouth County grand jury has declined to indict Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith for his role in a crash that killed his close friend 18 months ago.
Instead, the star basketball player with a checkered driving record will appear in Municipal Court next week to face other charges stemming from the fatal car accident of June 2007.
And the deadly collision doesn't appear to have slowed Smith down. He continued to rack up speeding tickets despite a public pledge to improve his driving skills, state motor vehicle records show.
The star, who is earning between $4 million and $5 million in the first year of a contract, has had his license suspended for two years in New Jersey and has been ordered to attend driver-improvement school.
More than a year after the deadly collision in Millstone, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office presented the case to a grand jury, which decided on Oct. 29 not to file charges against Smith, whose real name is Earl J. Smith 3d, said First Assistant Prosecutor Peter Warshaw Jr.
A grand jury could have indicted Smith on a vehicular homicide charge, an offense that carries a prison term. He still faces motor vehicle summonses, which are scheduled to be heard in Millstone Municipal Court on Jan. 13, according to court personnel.
Kevin Hexstall, the Philadelphia attorney who represented Smith for the grand jury proceeding, declined to comment on the outcome and said it is unclear whether Smith will ask for an adjournment for the municipal court case.
"We'll figure it out closer to that date,'' said Hexstall, who has represented other NBA athletes in civil and criminal matters.
The attorney representing Smith on the traffic violations did not return calls to his office.
A star at Lakewood High School and St. Benedict's Prep in Newark before turning pro, Smith was driving a 2003 white GMC Yukon when he pulled around a car stopped at a stop sign and into the path of an oncoming car, according to police.
The collision ejected him and his friend, Andre Bell, 21, of East Orange. Neither man was wearing a seat belt. Bell died two days later of serious head injuries. A third passenger, former Seton Hall basketball player Carl Marshall, was wearing his seat belt in the front seat and was not seriously injured. Smith sprained his left shoulder.
Smith was cited for failing to stop at a stop sign and improper passing. At the time of the accident, he had amassed 27 points and five suspensions on his license in less than a year.
After the crash, Smith told reporters in Denver that he's "got to take things a lot more slower and be a lot more cautious and careful.''
But his driving record after that public pronouncement speaks otherwise.
Between August 2007 and October 2008, he accumulated two more speeding tickets and three more suspensions.
Sandy Grossman, spokeswoman for the state Division of Motor Vehicles, said Smith was issued a ticket for speeding in Colorado on Feb. 19, 2008, and again on March 1, 2008. Each of those offenses added two points to his already bloated driving record. His driver's license was suspended on March 12 for the fatal accident and again on May 26 for the excessive points, Grossman said.
On July 8, an administrative law judge ordered his license suspended for two years and directed that he attend driver improvement school and undergo driver reexamination, which would include a road test, Grossman said. He is not eligible to have his license reinstated until Aug. 29, 2010, and still has 25 points, which do not include the charges from the fatal accident, she said.