Thabo Sefolosha found not guilty in night club incident
Thabo Sefolosha has been found not guilty of misdemeanor charges of obstructing government administration, disorderly contuct and resisting arrest stemming from an incident outside a night club in New York in April.
Sefolosha, from the Atlanta Hawks, suffered a broken leg in the incident.
A Manhattan jury deliberated less than an hour before finding Sefolosha not guilty. He appeared to tear up when he heard the verdict and was later seen shaking hands with some of the jurors as he left court.
"It’s troubling to me that with so much evidence in my support that this case would even be brought to trial and that I had to defend myself so hard to get justice," Sefolosha said in a statement. "It pains me to think about all of the innocent people who aren’t fortunate enough to have the resources, visibility and access to quality legal counsel that I have had. It was important to me as a man, a father to two young girls and as a role model, to stand up for what I believe in and have my name cleared of any wrongdoing.
"Today’s verdict will not make up for the pain and trauma my family and I have suffered over the past six months or bring back the opportunity to have played in the Eastern Conference Finals and have a shot at an NBA title, but it does bring me some peace and closes a painful chapter in my life."
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Prosecutors had accused the guard-forward, a nine-year veteran from Switzerland, of repeatedly disobeying the orders of officers telling him to leave the area around the club where another NBA player, Chris Copeland, had been stabbed. He testified that he moved off the block at the behest of a vulgar and confrontational officer and was trying to give a beggar a $20 bill when he was grabbed by police and taken to the ground.
“They arrested him,” Sefolosha’s attorney, Alex Spiro, said in his closing argument. “They broke his leg out of eyeshot or earshot of an unrelated crime scene.”
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Before the confrontation turned physical, the 6-foot-6 Sefolosha said he challenged the tone of a particularly aggressive officer who was ushering him, former teammate Pero Antic and others. He said he called the 5-foot-7 officer “a midget.” Charges against Antic later were dropped.
"Thabo is a man of great character and we are proud that he took a principled approach to proving his innocence," Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said in a statement. "We are extremely happy for him and his family, and we are very pleased with today’s verdict in his favor."
Prosecutors presented a different theory in the trial, arguing Sefolosha acted entitled as he slowly departed the 1Oak nightclub. They said he eventually locked his arms in front of him to make it more difficult for arresting officers to put on handcuffs.
“The police don’t get to tell the defendant how to play basketball,” an assistant district attorney, Francesca Bartolomey, said in her summation. “The defendant doesn’t get to say where the crime scene ends.”
Prosecutors had offered Sefolosha a plea deal that would have seen the charges dismissed in exchange for doing one day of community service. But he rejected the offer, saying he wanted to set the record straight.
The decision to testify at trial “wasn’t difficult at all,” he said. “All I had to do was tell the truth.”
Sefolosha had surgery on his leg and isn’t fully healed. He said he continues to undergo rehab and isn’t sure he’ll be ready to play when the NBA season starts Oct. 27.
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The Associated Press contributed to this story