Former UK, NBA star Rajon Rondo expected to plead guilty to gun charge after trial date was canceled

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Former University of Kentucky basketball and NBA star Rajon Rondo's August trial date was canceled as it appears he will instead plead guilty to misdemeanor unlawful possession of a gun.

A Sept. 3 "change of plea hearing" was scheduled which, if finalized as it is proposed, would call for Rondo to plead guilty to the gun charge and have drug paraphernalia and marijuana charges dismissed. All of the charges are misdemeanors.

The potential sentence, according to the proposed plea, would be a suspended jail sentence and probation. The proposed agreement is not official until both sides agree to it in court.

"Rondo states a negotiated plea agreement has been reached with the State to resolve his case," according to court documents.

Attorney Patrick Renn, who represents Rondo, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Rondo's case had been postponed for months waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in a similar case revolving around the main charge he is facing, unlawful possession of a gun.

The question that was facing the high court deals directly with Rondo's situation: Does a person's Second Amendment rights outweigh a law disqualifying the person from carrying a gun because of a domestic violence protective order against them?

Last month, the high court ruled upheld a federal law that bars anyone subject to a domestic-violence restraining order from possessing a gun. The court ruled 8-1 that the law does not violate the Constitution's Second Amendment.

That ruling undercut Rondo's main argument and a hearing on a motion to dismiss the case as unconstitutional on Friday was cancelled. The Aug. 1 trial date was also cancelled.

Rondo was stopped for a traffic violation in Jackson County on Jan. 28 after a caller reported a black 2022 Tesla weaving in and out of traffic and driving more than 100-miles-per-hour on Interstate 65 South.

Rondo did not have a license plate and, when pulled over, a trooper smelled marijuana, leading to a search that found a 9mm gun, a "personal use" amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, according to court records.

The 9mm was loaded with a bullet in the chamber, prompting troopers to handcuff Rondo's hands behind his back "for scene safety," according to an affidavit of arrest filed by an Indiana State Police trooper.

Rondo was not supposed to have a firearm because he had a no-contact order taken out against him in court. The charges are all misdemeanors.

A juvenile in Rondo's vehicle at the time was released to a family member.

Renn filed a motion arguing the gun charge is "unconstitutional" and the 2nd Amendment "protects Rondo's right to bear arms."

Renn noted that recent rulings have "changed the landscape" for challenges on gun possession, including an appeals court ruling in Mississippi which found that "laws prohibiting firearm possession on the basis of a prior felony conviction are unconstitutional."

This is not Rondo's first brush with legal trouble.

In 2022, a Louisville woman asked for an emergency protective order after she said Rondo "became enraged" and threatened her life. According to the EPO, the woman said Rondo was playing video games with a child when she asked the child to finish separating his laundry so she could wash the family's clothes.

When the child got up to do so, she said Rondo ripped the video game console out of the wall, went downstairs, smashed a tea cup plate, knocked over several water bottles and began yelling and cursing. According to the EPO, Rondo then went outside and knocked over the trash cans, stomped on the landscaping lights and drove his car onto the lawn.

The EPO goes on to say that when she confronted Rondo, he said "You're dead."

After briefly leaving the house, the woman said Rondo came back and beat on a window with a gun.

Rondo, who played high school basketball in Louisville at Eastern before transferring to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, was a standout point guard for Kentucky before being drafted with the 21st pick of the first round of the 2006 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns.

Rondo played 16 seasons in the NBA and won two NBA championships. He last played in the NBA in 2022 for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Earlier this year, the Greater Louisville Pride Foundation announced Rondo was one of six people in their Class of 2024 "hometown heroes" to get a banner to hang in the city.

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