Pubdate: Thu, 19 May 2005
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)
Copyright: 2005 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Contact:  http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/408
Author: Sam Skolnik, SPI Reporter

KEMP PLEADS GUILTY IN POT CASE; SENTENCE DEFERRED

Charge Will Vanish in Year If Ex-Sonics Star Meets
Conditions

Former Sonics star Shawn Kemp pleaded guilty to attempted marijuana
possession yesterday in King County District Court, then told
reporters that "you shall not see me back in this position again."

Kemp will get a one-year deferral of his sentence if he submits to
five days of electronic home monitoring, commits no crimes and
refrains from using illicit drugs.

If he has met those conditions a year from now, the drug charge will
be dropped.

Prosecutors reduced their charge against Kemp from a felony to a gross
misdemeanor as part of the deal.

Judge Eileen Kato pointed out that Kemp, of Maple Valley, has no
criminal history and that she was not giving him any special treatment
because of his star status.

"Your case is being handled no differently" from others in similar
circumstances, she said.

Officers arrested Kemp and a friend, Gavin Lamar Jones of Renton, on
April 4 as they sat in Kemp's pickup parked at the back of a Shoreline
car wash.

Both are 35.

According to the arrest report, a deputy stopped to talk to the men
about 1 a.m. He smelled marijuana and asked Kemp if he could search
the truck. Kemp agreed, and the deputy found 60 grams of marijuana and
just over 1 gram of cocaine.

Kemp said in a statement in court yesterday that Jones, a childhood
friend from Indiana, had placed the bag in which the drugs were later
found between their seats when he got into the truck.

After learning that the bag contained pot, Kemp said, "I did not
insist that the marijuana be discarded because I felt I was doing
nothing wrong inasmuch as it was not mine nor did I have any intention
of doing anything with it."

After the hearing, Kemp added that he had learned some important life
lessons. Among them, he intends to stay far away from courtrooms. "You
shall not see me back in this position again," he said.

Jones pleaded guilty to the same charge as Kemp yesterday -- attempted
possession of more than 40 grams of marijuana -- as well as to a
charge of attempted cocaine possession.

He received the same sentence as Kemp. 
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