FanPost

Erik Brown Update

Here is an update on what is going on with everyone's favorite mentally ill former card, no not Samaki Walker, Erik Brown. Here is my old post when it happened:  http://www.cardchronicle.com/story/2007/8/19/23352/4229 .  He has pleaded out of the felony count to milder offence.  Updated article below.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/basketball/ncaa/09/17/bc.bkc.brown.pleadeal.ap/index.html/

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Former Louisville basketball player Erik Brown pleaded guilty but mentally ill to one count of criminal mischief stemming from incident at his home in August, 2006.

Brown, 27, played two seasons at Louisville under coach Rick Pitino.

Police said Brown, who has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, threatened people and slashed car tires at a local apartment complex. When police arrived, Brown barricaded himself in his apartment then started a first on his porch and in his living room.

Police were eventually able to get into the apartment, but had to use a Taser gun to subdue Brown. Brown entered an Alford plea to one count of resisting arrest. An Alford plea acknowledges there is enough evidence for conviction. A persistent felony offender charged was dismissed.

A state psychiatrist has testified that Brown suffers from mental illness that causes hallucinations, paranoia and severe depressions.

Brown said on the day of the incident he thought "famous celebrity people were after me" and threatened suicide when talking to police.

Brown told the psychiatrist that the CIA put a chip in his brain in a plot that somehow involves Pitino.

Brown's lawyers are asking for probation and that Brown be enrolled in a court-monitored drug rehabilitation program. Prosecutors recommended two years in prison. A formal sentencing hearing is set for Oct. 5.

Brown was the nation's leading freshman scorer at Morehead State in 1998-99 before transferring to Louisville. He started for the Cardinals from 2001-03.