The arraignment of CSUN’s Jeffrey Braswell and Deon Tresvant has been postponed as Braswell arrived to court with no representation.
CSUN Basketball Coach Bobby Braswell told court he decided the night before the arraignment that Mark Williams would no longer represent his son.
He refused to comment saying the reasons were personal and private.
Braswell Sr. told the court he’ll be employing a new private attorney for the indictment set for April 23.
Tresvant’s attorney William McKenzie arrived more than two hours late to court. He told Judge Barbara M. Scheper it was his understanding that Williams had arranged for another attorney to represent his client for the arraignment.
Braswell Jr., Tresvant and actor Phannuel Gbewonyo, pleaded not guilty late February to stealing iPods, Xbox’s, headphones and DVD’s from a Porter Ranch Best Buy Jan. 1.
Braswell Jr., who worked at Best Buy at the time, is accused of logging into a cash register using a fellow employer’s username and password. Once logged in, Braswell would allegedly call Tresvant, Gbewonyo and CSUN basketball freshman reserve Dallas Rutherford to come and take items from the store without paying.
Rutherford pleaded not guilty to a lesser charge and was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to complete 200 hours of Caltrans service.
On March 18 Braswell Jr., Tresvant and Gbewonyo’s attorneys presented arguments before the court to reduce their charges to misdemeanors. All three urged the judge to maintain parody in sentencing and said it was unfair Rutherford received lesser charges while their clients were facing felonies.
Judge Sunjay Kumar denied the motion. Kumar reasoned that the charge would not be reduced as the men repeatedly took items from Best Buy without paying. And, as Braswell Jr. tried to deflect his crime to another employee, Kumar said the charge should remain a felony.
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