Ex-PC Friar James Still pleads guilty to assault charge

By Kevin McNamaraPROVIDENCE -- James Still, a former Providence College basketball player, has pleaded guilty to a charge of felony assault, serious bodily injury.

Still and another former Friar, Johnnie Lacy, were charged with assault of a fellow PC student, Yerkin Abdrakhmanov, a senior from Kazakhstan, in April 2010. The injuries sustained by Abdrakhmanov in the attack, just off the PC campus, included a broken nose and broken eye socket.

Lacy is at the ACI serving a three-year sentence. Still is on scholarship at Eastern Michigan University. When he chose to forgo a trial and plead guilty last week, EMU cited athletic department policy and dismissed Still from the team. He'll be sentenced Jan. 8 in Providence and is facing a maximum sentence of 20 years.