Ex-Laker To Be Released From Prison After Receiving New Sentence For 2011 Homicide

Former NBA player Javaris Crittenton is set to be released from prison after a judge denied a motion to rescind the new sentence he was given for a 2011 homicide.

The 35-year-old former Georgia Tech standout, who was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2007, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was handed a sentence of 23 years in prison and 17 years of probation in Georgia back in 2015.

Crittenton was accused of killing Julian Jones, a 22-year-old mother of four in a drive-by shooting in Atlanta in August 2011. He claimed that he did not intend to shoot Jones and instead had aimed for a man who allegedly robbed him days earlier, WSB-TV reported.

The Georgia native entered into a plea deal with former District Attorney Paul Howard. Under the deal, Crittenton had the right to a modified sentence after he served five years and met certain behavior-based criteria.

According to a document obtained by the outlet's investigative reporter Mark Winne, the new sentence of Crittenton for voluntary manslaughter is 20 years, which includes close to a decade of probation and 10 years in prison commuted to time served.

According to WSB-TV, a senior assistant district attorney from the Fulton County District Attorney's office consented in court to the new sentence in the case, which stipulates Crittenton's immediate release.

Hours after the judge agreed to reduce the sentence, current Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis filed a motion to rescind the former NBA player's new sentence. Willis previously represented Crittenton as his attorney.

But the judge ruled Friday that even though Willis once represented Crittenton, that didn't disqualify anyone else in her office from being involved in the case.

"Representation of a criminal defendant by a lawyer in the district attorney's office does not automatically disqualify other members of that office from prosecuting the case," the judge wrote in documents obtained by Winne.

It has yet to be revealed when Crittenton will be set free, but his attorney Brian Steel said it could be any day, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Crittenton had already served some time in prison prior to his 2015 trial.

Once he is released, Crittenton will have to abide by several conditions the new sentence carries, including 7,200 hours of community service during the first 10 years of his probation.

The 6-foot-5 former athlete will be on intensive probation for the first five years "during which time he will be required to obtain, wear, and pay for a monitoring system approved by probation which he must wear at all times."

Crittenton will also have a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew and can only leave his home for pre-arranged volunteer activities as allowed by a probation officer during the intensive probation.

Crittenton had stints with the Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies and the Washington Wizards. The 19th overall pick of the 2007 NBA Draft was suspended in 2010 for pulling a gun in the Wizards' locker room. He was also accused of domestic violence after allegedly hitting the mother of his child.