Headline? Check.
Criminal Charges? Check.
Mugshot? See picture to the right.
What does it add up to? Certainly nothing good for high school standout, McDonald's All-American and Wake Forest basketball recruit Al-Farouq Aminu.
Aminu turned himself in to the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department Friday evening and appears to have since been released on bail. He has been charged with felony aggravated assault and misdemeanor trespassing stemming from a March 14 incident in which Aminu allegedly shot a female with a BB gun from a car.
Georgia law states that "The exclusive, original jurisdiction of juvenile courts extends to delinquent children under the age of 17 and deprived or unruly children under the age of 18," indicating that Aminu will be treated as an adult in this situation (http://www.georgiacourts.org/juvenile.html).
The aggravated assault charge appears to be automatic in situations where someone fires a gun from a vehicle towards another person (http://www.georgiacriminaldefense.com/georgia-violent-crimes.html):
Aggravated Assault – O.C.G.A. 16-5-21
Aggravated assault occurs when an assault is committed one of three ways: 1) with intent to murder, rape or rob; 2) with a deadly weapon (includes any instrument which, when used against a person is likely to or actually does result in serious bodily injury) or 3) by discharge of a firearm from within a motor vehicle toward a person or people.
Punishment - Felony: 1 to 20 years in prison unless:
Furthermore:
If the aggravated assault involves discharge of a firearm from within a motor vehicle toward a person or people, the punishment shall be 5 to 20 years in prison
At this point no explanation has been provided for the trespassing charge, so we'll leave that alone for now.
Obviously I am no legal expert, but in my mind firing some kind of BB gun is quite different than firing just about any other kind of gun. Obviously it is a very very very dumb thing to do, but that doesn't seem nearly as serious as firing a much deadlier weapon. Still, the law may see it differently and that's what will ultimately matter.
Once again, Aminu has not been convicted of any crime. I certainly hope that he is cleared of all these charges, and that at a minimum he loses the felony charge. This will have plenty of time to play out in court. In the end we may be freaking out about something that won't be a huge deal; that would certainly be the hope.
This does have interesting implications with his status at Wake Forest. Something like this could certainly have an affect on his ability to be admitted to the school or receive his scholarship. I haven't seen an issue like this before so who knows where it will go, but I think Aminu's scholarship to Wake will be in serious jeopardy if he's convicted of a felony. If it drops to a misdemeanor or is dropped entirely then there may be a minimal affect on his Wake career, perhaps only a brief suspension from the athletic department if anything.
This will have plenty of time to play out and I'll be doing my best to stay on top of the issues as they unfold. I don't know how the athletic department will handle this situation and it will not surprise me if A.D. Ron Wellman and head coach Dino Gaudio decline to comment on the issue right now. Nonetheless, I'll do some digging and see what I can come up with.
Crap.
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