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Blaylock will serve three years in prison
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Former NBA player Mookie Blaylock pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide Monday, accepting a plea deal that means he will serve three years of a 15-year sentence for killing a woman in 2013.
Blaylock admitted to killing Monica Murphy, a mother of five, in a head-on collision in Atlanta on May 31, 2013.
The 15-year sentence was reduced to seven years in prison and eight on probation and allows him to be released from prison after three years.
According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the deal includes 1,500 hours of community service and treatment for alcoholism. Additionally, he cannot drive until his probation is completed.
“He has admitted he has a problem with alcohol and he is getting treatment for that,” attorney Amanda Palmer said.
Blaylock, 47, had no alcohol in his system at the time of the crash, Palmer said, but he was charged with vehicular homicide because doctors had told him not to drive because he was prone to seizures caused by alcoholism.
Blaylock had been arrested on a DUI charge one month before the crash and had other DUI convictions, Palmer said.
He was injured in the wreck and on life support for several days.
Blaylock was a first-round pick of the New Jersey Nets in 1989 and played most of his 13-year career with the Atlanta Hawks.
