NEW YORK — During a hearing Monday morning in Brooklyn Criminal Court, the sexual assault case involving Lance Stephenson and Darwin “Buddha” Ellis was adjourned until July 15.
Attorneys for both sides huddled briefly before Judge Alexander Jeong said, “We will meet on July 15.”
Jeong had previously adjourned the case once, to Monday from May 19.
“It’s a process,” said Alberto Ebanks, Stephenson’s attorney.
Stephenson and Ellis are alleged to have groped a 17-year-old girl outside Lincoln High School last fall. If convicted, Stephenson could face up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Ebanks has maintained his client’s innocence throughout.
“[Stephenson] is 100 percent innocent,” he told me last month. “Just apply logic to the situation. At 2:50 p.m. as school is letting out, this God-awful incident goes on across the street from the school and no one sees anything? No one? Not one school safety officer, not one member of the administration, not one fellow classmate? Come on.
“It’s just a shame.”
Neither Stephenson nor his father, Lance Sr., spoke to the media Monday.
Lance and his family were coming off a weekend official visit to the University of Cincinnati and one Big East assistant coach said he expected Lance to make a verbal commitment to the school on Tuesday.
Yet it seems unlikely that any school would take a commitment until the groping case is resolved, which now has been pushed back.
The 6-foot-5 Stephenson is the all-time leading scorer in New York State history and he led Lincoln High School to four straight PSAL championships.
He has taken official visits to Kansas, Maryland and St. John’s and would have one remaining if the Cincinnati visit was an official.
Other potential schools in the mix include Memphis, Missouri, Pittsburgh and UNC-Charlotte, according to a source close to the Stephensons.
Florida, Florida International, Kansas, Maryland and St. John’s have already bowed out.
“We are going through the process of picking a school,” Lance Sr. wrote Sunday in a text. “Things are going well with the schools we are talking to. We look forward to announcing in the weeks to come.”
tsmooth / June 29, 2009
just goes to show that not even lance knows where is he going to land. he should just go straight to europe and save an ncaa program time spent on an investigation that is likely to occur right when he commits. go to europe and start counting out money, and learn how to not be a ballhog lance. maybe then u will be able to live up to ur potential. memphis should back off seeing as we have acquired elliot williams, though tragically. whoever lands him better be willing to take the heat that comes with him.
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bball purist / June 29, 2009
Lance’s dad does a good job of insulating Lance from the press, etc. However, I hope he prepares Lance for the NBA life when all the hangers-on are going to emerge from the shadows. At least one year of college is an in-between step to the rigors of NBA life. I hope BR will be ready for that life. If not, I’d be afraid he’ll fall into the 60% category after retirement…better get Len Elmore as an agent…
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USC.trojan / June 29, 2009
Good to see that “E” also has game – all those court games.
Lets see if the Judge put and end to this…. Maybe some harsh words from the Judge will resolve this matter.
On a better NOTE—- AZ,
Can we read various articles on the TOP10 recriuts from NYC area, for 2010.
Who are your TOP10 and its details.
Much appreciated…..
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Terrapins92 / June 29, 2009
Cincinnati seems like a sensible choice if that is what he goes with.
Not sure why the adjournment is a good thing for him if he is not guilty.
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DiamondbackRuss / June 29, 2009
Someone ought to tell Lance that Huggy Bear is no longer the coach at UC.
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pastnerized / June 29, 2009
Don’t know how much more we can back off. Evidently, we haven’t tried to contact the Stephensons in several weeks.
I don’t even understand why we’re still on the list. Stretch says things are going well with the schools they are talking to. Well, they’re not talking to Memphis.
So, I’d say we’re out of it.
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pastaboy / June 29, 2009
Hopefully when this thug starts making money he can hire a better attorney to get him out of his rape cases and general thuggery type activities .
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Big Ben / June 29, 2009
A clue as to what’s taking Lance so long may have come today via the Kansas City Star. Apparently despite being a decent student, X Henry was considering playing in Europe next year because he doesn’t like school- so much so that he discussed it with European teams a little over a month ago. If Lance knew that Kansas may again be in need of a SF, his delay may make a bit more sense. That seems to be the only place he was actually interested in going.
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Big Ben / June 29, 2009
Whoever said on the Cincy thread that they were waiting for pasta to post something hypocritical about Lance just got their wish. That took longer than I expected to be honest.
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anton / June 29, 2009
Because the Court is giving the accuser 2 weeks to figure out there is no case here and that she is going to look like a fool if this goes to trial.
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jhawk4 / June 29, 2009
that is not true. check out theshiver.com.
they interviewed carl and apparently that KC Star article was way out of context and misleading and pissed off the henry’s. He doesnt want to play in europe. can you blame the kid for not wanting to go to class? did anybody on here really look forward to going to class? it never said he wasnt going to go, only that he doesnt want to.
X is going to be a jayhawk
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pastaboy / June 29, 2009
Seems like Carl is trying to run the kid’s life . I’m still hearing X is unhappy in Lawrence ….. but if he bolts somewhere else (KY)? …then Ku could still get Lance …..not a bad trade …..nice situation to be in .
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Big Ben / June 29, 2009
Any unhappiness from the Henry family seems to be 1) X not wanting to deal with school and 2) CJ being unlikely to get minutes at Kansas.
Neither of these change at any other school. The only options for X are Kansas and Europe.
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Big Ben / June 29, 2009
Of course he is going to Kansas now, but if Carl actually talked to European teams it means they were pursuing that option. If Lance heard this…
Just a theory, but Lance clearly wasn’t interested in Kentucky, Memphis, etc etc. The only place he actually wants to play is Kansas.
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pastaboy / June 29, 2009
CJ will get minutes at Kansas …plenty of blowouts to mop up on
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PKelly / June 29, 2009
Normally this would be a damned funny comment…..too bad the painfully transparent source makes this not so. Good to see people are wising up. Get used to the crickets……………
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tsmooth / June 30, 2009
pastaboy, not even two days ago u were excited about the possiblility of lance signing with memphis. now, with him looking elsewhere and possibly signing with another school u r bitter. shit u flip flop worse than jay mariotti. stick with an opinion u spineless individual
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