Attorney: Former MSU basketball star Appling has ‘learned his lesson’
Former Michigan State basketball star Keith Appling’s attorney believes his client has learned his lesson and resolves to live a clean life.
Appling, 28, pleaded guilty last week to manufacture or delivery of less than 50 grams of heroin and driving with a suspended license for an incident last February in Warren.
He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 30 by Judge Edward Servitto of Macomb County Circuit, where Appling’s attorney, Joe Arnone, said he will seek probation. The charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, but his sentencing guideline range goes from probation to 13 months in prison.
“My plan is to explain to the court how this happened and how to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” Arnone told The Macomb Daily.
Arnone believes Appling is convinced that he can’t continue his contact with some people from his past.
“He’s a person who needs to cut ties with his past,” in reference to associates stemming from his childhood in Detroit, Arnone said. “It’s time for him to grow up. He’s still young. At a certain time you have to grow up and face reality. I think he gets that now.”
Appling was arrested three times in 2016 but several charges were dismissed and he pleaded guilty to gun and resisting-arrest charges in Wayne County Circuit Court. He was sentenced in 2016 to one year in jail and five years probation. The Macomb County case could cause ramifications in the Wayne County case, for which Appling faces a probation violation hearing Wednesday in front of Judge Lawrence Talon.
Appling was named Mr. Basketball in Michigan in 2010 following a career at Pershing HighSchool in Detroit andwas an All-BigTen guard during his four years at MSU.
After he left MSU in 2014, Appling had two shorts stints with the Orlando Magic in the NBA and played in the NBA D League for two years. He more recently played in Italy and South America, and hopes to resume that career, according to Arnone.
“He certainly has that opportunity,” he said.
Arnone said a wrist injury early in his professional career hindered Appling’s ability to advance in the NBA.
Appling was driving a Dodge Challenger on Dequindre Road north of Eight Mile Road Feb. 8, 2020, when it was stopped for improper lane use by a Warren police office. Officers found a golf-ball sized chunk of heroin that police said had a street value of about $1,900.