DALLAS (AP) -- A Texas jury sentenced the son of former NBA player Nick Van Exel to 60 years in prison Friday in the shooting death of a longtime friend.
Nickey Maxwell Van Exel, 22, received the punishment after his father wept on the witness stand and apologized to the family of the victim, Bradley Bassey Eyo. The same jury in Dallas County in North Texas found the younger Van Exel guilty of murder on Thursday.
Prosecutors had sought a capital murder conviction.
Nickey Van Exel fatally shot Eyo in December 2010 and dumped his body at Lake Ray Hubbard on the eastern outskirts of Dallas. His attorney had said the two were playing with a shotgun at Nickey Van Exel's Garland home and that Van Exel didn't know the gun was loaded.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ex-nba-players-son-gets-011017845--nba.htmlNickey Van Exel (NVE's son) lived with his mom and step dad in texas. He often stayed with his Dad during summers but did not permanently live with him.
The gun used in the murder belonged to his step dad.
Bradley Bassey Eyo was Nickey's best friend. They lived across the street from each other. Eyo had been found guilty of a string of robberies in the Houston area in 2010, the footage showed he had someone else with him during the robberies. The Police believed Van Exel Jr was with Eyo during the robberies but lacked the evidence to convict Van Exel. Eyo was due to talk to Police 10 days after to murder about the robberies, where it was believed he was going to tell them Van Exel was with him. (THIS IS NOT FACT, IT IS WHAT THE PROSECUTION BELIEVES BUT THERE IS NO EVIDENCE). The prosecution believed Van Exel killed Eyo as Eyo was about to "snitch" to the Police about the robberies.
After the shooting Van Exel took the body and dumped it in a near by lake. He returned home and cleaned the blood from his bedroom floor and vehicle before going and throwing the gun away somewhere else. The body of Eyo was found missing a pair of sneakers, cell phones and jewelry.
Van Exel confessed to the murder a few days after with his lawyer and turned himself in. Van Exel claims the murder was an accident, that he was playing with a gun he did not realize was loaded. Van Exel's lawyer claimed his later action's were just panic after he shot his friend.
Basically as much as Id like to believe it was an accident it does not look good. I feel really sorry for Nick senior, his Dad left him as a child and I read numerous interviews from Nick saying he would always be there for his son. In the "Beyond the Glory" episode on Nick from 2002 it shown Nick taking his son to the park, and he talks about being involved with his sons life. Nick's son features in the 2006 MTV Cribs segment on Nick segment.
Van Exel broke down at one point while speaking in court. He then apologized to Eyo's family.
"I'm really sorry to the Eyo family. Nobody should have to go through something like this. Nobody," he said, as he looked at Eyo's family members who were in the courtroom.
It is impossible to know for sure but Nick Sr seemed to be a good father. Nickey is his only child, so were not talking about a Shawn Kemp here. I think its understandable to believe Nickey living with his mom as it must be impossible for any NBA employee who travels to be a full time parent.
This is just sad, I met Nick once and he was the nicest guy, posed for pics and signed a poster for me. Im from Australia so he took the time to chat with me, asked me about Australia and introduced himself to my wife. He was not asked to do this, he just saw me wearing a Cincinnati Van Exel jersey at a Hawks game a few years ago and came over.
