‘Pacman’ Jones will surrender to police

Lawyers Manny Arora of Atlanta and Robert Langford of Las Vegas said they had no information about a deadline set by police of noon today.

Arora said he was working with Clark County District Attorney David Roger’s office on arrangements for Jones to surrender today or Monday in Las Vegas.

Roger declined to comment and said police were handling the negotiations.

Las Vegas police Capt. James Dillon confirmed that authorities gave Jones, Sadia Morrison and Robert Reid until midday today to turn themselves in or face arrest in the melee at the Minxx strip club that took place during the NBA All-Star Game weekend.

“I’m quite certain, since they don’t want to be hunted down, that they’ll be here,” said Langford, who is also representing Morrison and Reid.

Police have described Reid as Jones’ bodyguard and Morrison as a member of an entourage of about six people who arrived with Jones before the predawn Feb. 19 fracas at the club, several blocks off the Strip.

The charges in Las Vegas have cast more doubt on Jones’ playing status with the Tennessee Titans. Since he was drafted in April 2005, he has been arrested five times, although he has not been convicted of any crimes.

Jones has been involved in at least 11 separate police investigations, authorities say, and is sought by Atlanta-area police for questioning in a shooting early Monday after a fight at a strip club there.

The NFL and Titans owner K.S. “Bud” Adams Jr. issued statements declining comment about Jones until he serves at least 10 weeks of his season-long suspension.

Jones, 23, of Franklin, Tenn., faces two counts of felony coercion stemming from allegations that he threatened to kill Minxx club employees and that he bit a bar bouncer.

Coercion is the act of threatening or physically interfering with a person trying to do something that he or she has a right and responsibility to do. If convicted, Jones faces a maximum of 12 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

“We’re looking forward to vigorously defending against the charges,” Langford said in an Associated Press interview.

Arora accused police of unfairly leaking information about Jones because of the player’s celebrity. Arora said investigative reports were released before charges were filed and before arrest warrants were issued.

“Police keep saying they want to treat him like everyone else,” Arora said.

“It’s infuriating. He isn’t being treated like everyone else,” Arora said, adding that he and Langford “will do whatever we have to do to protect Adam.”

Langford also represents Reid, 37, of Carson, Calif., who faces one felony coercion charge alleging he attacked a bouncer who tried to restrain Jones, and Morrison, 25, of New York.

Morrison faces five charges including coercion, felony assault with a deadly weapon and battery stemming from allegations that she hit a bouncer in the head with a bottle and attacked other club employees with a chair and a stanchion.

No one is named as the shooter, which left a club employee paralyzed and a bouncer and female patron with less serious wounds. But police allege that Jones instigated the fracas inside the club by attacking a dancer who tried to pick up cash he had showered on stage from a black plastic trash bag.

Jones is accused of threatening the life of club employees, punching a man who police identify as his own business manager, and walking away from the club with a man wearing a baggy black T-shirt and blue jeans.

Minutes later, police say, a similarly dressed man standing next to a palm tree fired five or six shots toward people at the front of the club.

Police have released an image of a person who Dillon said police wanted to identify and talk with as a “person of interest” in the shooting.

Dillon said Las Vegas police also wanted to question Jones about an altercation reported at another strip club several days before the Minxx shooting.

That incident is not cited in court records, and Dillon did not provide details.

Review-Journal writer David Kihara contributed to this report.