http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/news/2003/07/18/added_charge_ap/ TORONTO (AP) -- Police have upgraded an assault charge against former Milwaukee Bucks teammates Gary Payton, Sam Cassell and Jason Caffey stemming from a fight, a prosecutor and the men's lawyer said Friday. Payton, Cassell and Caffey are charged in connection with an altercation outside a bar April 11. They were charged with common assault, but police upgraded it to assault causing bodily harm, prosecutor Calvin Barry said. Barry said further investigation found that one of the participants in the altercation was injured. Payton is now with the Los Angeles Lakers and Cassell with the Minnesota Timberwolves. They are accused of assaulting two men and two women outside a club after closing time while the Bucks were in Toronto to play the Raptors. According to Edward Greenspan, the players' lawyer, prosecutors have indicated they will proceed with summary charges in the case, rather than more serious indictable charges. "One of the people who made the allegation of assault at the time said that he suffered no injuries, but has now got some medical evidence that we have not seen that he did suffer some medical injury," Greenspan said, adding he believed the injury was whiplash. "There's no suggestion of serious bodily harm." He noted that police file charges in Canada that prosecutors later review, a different system than in the United States, where prosecutors file charges as a legal decision. "The reality is that what happened today is what the police did all on their own, which the prosecutor several months down the road will review," Greenspan said. The maximum sentences for summary charges are 18 months for assault causing bodily harm and six months for common assault, Greenspan said. Under the revised charges, Payton now faces two counts of common assault and one count of assault causing bodily harm, while Cassell faces one of each and Caffey a lone count of assault causing bodily harm.
This just sounds like the police department is trying to cash in on the publicity that Kobe is getting. Basically waiting all this time to upgrade charges sounds weak.
Wasn't it the Laker fans who coined the phrase "Jailblazers?" It looks like turnabout is fair play. If convicted, passes may take on a whole new meaning for two fifths of their starting five.
