NBA's Rider skips court date -- warrants out

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Aug 19, 2006 | by Nancy Isles NationMEDIANEWS

A Marin County judge has issued two arrest warrants for former NBA star Isaiah "J.R." Rider after he failed to show up for sentencing in a couple of misdemeanor cases.

Marin Superior Court Judge Verna Adams waited about an hour after his scheduled 9:06 a.m. hearing Wednesday before issuing the warrants. Bail was set at $10,000 for each warrant in two separate misdemeanor cases against the basketball player, who retired in 2002.

Rider pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors and three infractions in the two cases in Marin. One involves false imprisonment and battery, and the second is for driving with a suspended license and related charges.

He also is wanted in Alameda County, where a bench warrant was issued July 26 when he failed to appear in court on drug charges. The false imprisonment count in Marin was reported as a felony kidnapping in January when a former girlfriend said she had met with Rider in the city of Marin City and said he had forced her into his Mercedes and refused to release her despite her protest.

Rider had been arrested in Marin in November 2004 on a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence against a woman he was dating. He was convicted but did not show up for several subsequent court dates, prompting Marin Superior Court Commissioner Randolph Heubach to issue a warrant.

He was arrested on that warrant in Alameda in November 2005, when employees at a bank became suspicious of him and alerted police. Garrick Lew, Rider's attorney, said he was expecting Rider to appear in court Wednesday and was surprised that he didn't.

Rider is out of custody in Marin on $2 million bail.

Rider starred at Alameda's Encinal High and at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas before being drafted fifth overall in 1993 in the first round by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

He played nine seasons in the NBA, earning more than $26 million. Rider was a first-team selection to the NBA all-rookie team in 1994 and won the All-Star-Weekend slam dunk championship that year.