LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- An attorney for former University of Kentucky basketball and NBA star Rajon Rondo is arguing that a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm should be dismissed against Rondo because it violates his 2nd Amendment rights. 

Rondo, who had a court hearing Tuesday in Jackson County, Indiana, for his gun charge as well as misdemeanor drug paraphernalia and marijuana charges, turned down a plea agreement offer from prosecutors and is now scheduled to stand trial on April 25, according to court records. 

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.

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

Rondo acknowledged to a trooper he was not supposed to have a gun because he has an active protective order against him, according to the affidavit. But attorney Patrick Renn, who is representing Rondo, filed a motion this week 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."

The gun charge against Rondo "fails to be consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation," Renn wrote.

The judge in the case has not yet ruled on the motion.

Another pre-trial hearing has been scheduled for March 25.

Renn did not respond to a message seeking comment.

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.

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. In the EPO, she said Rondo was yelling at the kids, asking them why they were scared of him while he had a gun in his hand.

The children were "visibly upset and clearly scared that Rajon continued to brandish a gun," she wrote.

Instead of calling police, the woman called former interim Louisville Metro Police Chief Yvette Gentry, who eventually arrived at the house. However, the woman said Rondo wouldn't let Gentry inside.

The woman said she locked herself in the house with the kids, and Gentry eventually told her Rondo had left and she had his gun.

"I am extremely fearful for my safety and for the safety of my children," the woman wrote in the EPO. "Rajon has a history of volatile, erratic, explosive behavior ... I am beyond fearful that Rajon will return and attempt to harm myself or the children and make good on his threats to end my life."

Two days after the alleged incident occurred, a judge granted the woman the protective order. The judge ordered Rondo not to communicate and stay at least 500 feet away from her. He was also ordered to surrender his firearms.

The woman also asked a judge that Rondo seek anger management classes, counseling and a mental health evaluation.

The EPO was dismissed in June 2022 after both parties "reached an agreement," according to court records.

In March, 2023, another EPO was taken out against Rondo by the same woman. That case ended in an agreed order in August 2023.

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