NBA's Iverson Freed On Bail
Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson was released Tuesday after being arraigned on charges that he burst into his cousin's apartment with a handgun and threatened two men.
Iverson, 27, was freed on $10,000 unsecured bail, which means he didn't have to put up any money, but would owe the balance if he failed to show up in court.
Iverson surrendered to authorities early Tuesday morning. A convoy of sport utility vehicles and a minivan left the grounds of his $2.4 million suburban mansion where Iverson had been holed up since prosecutors said last week they would charge him and his uncle with assault, terroristic threats and related offenses.
Richard Sprague, Iverson's attorney, said the all-star guard would plead innocent to the charges. He declined further comment.
Iverson's uncle, Gregory Iverson, also turned himself in at around dawn.
As Iverson prepared to surrender, his mother defended him outside his home late Monday.
"He knows he's got to do what he's got to do," Ann Iverson said. "I'm going to stick by my son because I know the man he is. I tell him don't worry about it, everything happens for a reason."
Iverson is accused of throwing his wife, Tawanna, out of the mansion during a fight earlier this month, then barging into his cousin's Philadelphia apartment with a gun while searching for her the next night.
Iverson had not been seen outside his house since about 5 a.m. Sunday, at the end of a get-together with friends and relatives. The last glimpse of his wife came Wednesday. Neither spoke with reporters.
Iverson and his uncle are accused of threatening two people inside the apartment — 21-year-old Charles Jones and 17-year-old Hakim Carey. Tawanna Iverson wasn't at the apartment when Iverson came looking for her, authorities said.
Police have searched Iverson's house and vehicles, but are not believed to have found a weapon.
In a court document filed Monday, police said one of the searches turned up two cell phones, a phone bill, other phone company documents and auto body repair documents. There was no mention of a gun. The police document did not say whether the search was of Iverson's house or cars.
As a teenager, Iverson was arrested in a Hampton, Va., bowling alley brawl in 1993 and spent four months in prison before then-Gov. Douglas Wilder granted clemency. The conviction was overturned on appeal in 1995.
In 1997, Iverson pleaded no contest to a gun charge after police near Richmond, Va., stopped a car in which he was a passenger and found a gun belonging to Iverson and two marijuana cigarettes. A marijuana-possession charge was dropped.