Earlier this month, it was reported that Kansas Jayhawks stars Josh Jackson and Lagerald Vick were at the center of a vandalism investigation in December.
Now, Lawrence Journal-World reports that Jackson is being charged with one count of criminal damage for allegedly damaging a car near a bar called “Yacht Club” in December. Jackson’s alleged to have kicked the door of a vehicle and breaking a tail light – which is technically a felony, as $1000 damaged was caused.
Jackson wasn’t charged with a felony, as full damage couldn’t be proven:
Branson explained why Jackson was not charged with felony criminal damage, which is damage exceeding $1,000.
“The state can’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that all the damage to the door and tail light were caused by Jackson due to other unidentifiable individual(s) damaging the vehicle,” Branson said.
Kansas head coach Bill Self claims that Jackson will continue to play with the Jayhawks, and claims to have used “the appropriate in-house discipline”:
Jackson will continue to play with the team, KU men’s basketball Coach Bill Self said Friday, in a statement. Self said he applied “the appropriate in-house discipline” immediately after and that the discipline would remain in house. Self didn’t elaborate on the nature of that discipline.
“I know Josh has regrets for his actions in this incident,” Self said. “He and I both know he could have exercised better judgment for this avoidable situation, but I’m pleased with how he’s accepted responsibility. This does not take away from the fact that he has been a great ambassador for this university. He will learn from this incident and be better for it.”
Jackson, a freshman, has averaged 16.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 3.0 assists with the No. 3- ranked Jayhawks.
The 20-year-old is considered a consensus top-five NBA Draft prospect, currently projected to go No. 3 overall in many mock drafts (including the one from ESPN’s Chad Ford). It’s unlikely this incident will do much to hurt Jackson’s draft stock, but it’s certainly not going to help things for him either.
