Former NBA Player Javaris Crittenton to Surrender to Face Murder Charge

Aug. 29, 2011— -- For much of his young life, Javaris Crittenton, 23, was wanted for his basketball skills. He was recruited by Georgia Tech and drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers.

Now he is wanted for murder.

Crittenton's attorney said today that he will surrender to authorities Tuesday morning.

"He offered to turn himself in,'' the lawyer, Brian Steel, told The Associated Press. "He's not guilty. We look forward to getting it to the courts.''

According to ABC Atlanta affiliate WSB-TV, police say Julian Jones, 23, was walking near her home in southeast Atlanta on Aug. 19. Jones, a mother of four, was with two men. A black Chevrolet Tahoe carrying Crittenton drove up and he allegedly shot at one of the men, who he suspected stole jewelry from him in an April 21 robbery.

Initial reports suggested Jones was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Later reports said she knew the two men.

The two men fled. Jones had been shot in the leg. She died during surgery later that day.

In 2009 Crittenton was involved in a notorious locker-room incident with Washington Wizards teammate Gilbert Arenas in which both brandished guns. According to Yahoo Sports, Crittenton had beaten Arenas badly in cards, and Arenas refused to pay the five-figure debt. Crittenton had allegedly jokingly threatened to shoot Arenas in the knee.

Crittenton was suspended from the NBA for having guns in a locker room with Arenas. He pleaded guilty in January 2010 to a misdemeanor gun charge and received a year of unsupervised probation. Arenas entered his guilty plea on Jan. 15. He served a short time in a halfway house. He is on the roster of the NBA developmental league's Dakota Wizards.

CBS Sports reported Arenas tweeted the following on Saturday: "I really wanna say sumthing but I wont becuz theirs a dead woman involved."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation had issued an arrest warrant for Crittenton on the charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Special Agent Steve Emmett said Crittenton bought and traveled on a one-way ticket from Atlanta to Los Angeles last Wednesday.

"We didn't only lose a mother, a friend, or a daughter, or a fiancee. We lost a loved one who was really special to us in our hearts," Jones' mother, June Woods, told WSB.

"If you're a star player ... even if he was robbed ... he had enough money to replace it," said Jones' fiance, Harel Butler. "You can never put a price on her life."

(The Associated Press contributed to this story. Additional information from ESPN and WSB-TV in Atlanta.)