Suspended NC State guard Johnson faces felony assault charge

By AP
Published

CLEVELAND (AP) Suspended North Carolina State guard Markell Johnson is facing a felony assault charge in his home state of Ohio.

According to a court document, Johnson was among four people indicted Dec. 5 in Cuyahoga County. The document states they ''did knowingly cause serious physical harm'' to a male victim on or about Oct. 8.

Court records show Johnson has pleaded not guilty and posted $5,000 bond on Dec. 20. The case was continued Thursday until the next pretrial hearing scheduled for Jan. 8, according to online court records.

Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts declined to comment on Johnson's case Thursday afternoon.

Athletic spokesman Fred Demarest said the school learned of the indictment Dec. 14 and indefinitely suspended Johnson that day. N.C. State announced the suspension two days later.

At the time, team spokesman Craig Hammel cited a violation of the school's student-athlete code of conduct but provided no further details.

According to the school's code of conduct, a student-athlete charged with a felony is indefinitely suspended from athletics participation, pending the resolution of charges. Johnson played in the Dec. 9 win against UMKC after the indictment, though Keatts said the program ''acted appropriately as soon as we found out about it.''

''At this time, there's nothing more that I can say than we've already said about it,'' Keatts said.

Johnson had started all 10 games he played, averaging 8.7 points and 6.6 assists while shooting 46 percent.

John Paris, Johnson's attorney, did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press on Thursday.

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