Markell Johnson pretrial hearing pushed back to Jan. 16th

UPDATE: It’s being reported that Markell Johnson’s pretrial hearing has been pushed back again, the time until January 16th. Not sure why this happened, but Markell will continue to be suspended until a ruling has been made.

Men’s basketball point guard Markell Johnson’s pre-trial for felonious assault has been pushed back to Jan. 16. His suspension will continue until at least then

— Technician Sports (@TechSports) January 8, 2018

Suspended NC State PG Markell Johnson had his pretrial hearing, which was scheduled today, pushed back until Jan 16th. He will be joined by three other co-defendants who were all indicted on felony assault charges in early December.

A pretrial hearing is a meeting that occurs before a trial action begins. These are generally attended by the plaintiff, defendant, the judge, the lawyers, and sometimes other parties. Pretrial hearings aim to resolve some of the legal issues before the trial begins (definition from Legal Match)

Is there a possibility that these legal issues are sorted out and a trial doesn’t have to go on? Yes, but it’s unlikely. What is likely to happen is that the case goes to court and we don’t find out about Markell’s status with NC State for some time. As far as outcomes go, here is what the most likely scenarios would look like based on how other schools have treated such incidents.

Not Guilty: Markell likely returns to NC State and resumes practice/play immediately.

Guilty of felony assault: Markell likely is kicked off the team.

Guilty of misdemeanor assault: This one would be more complicated. If the court ruled guilty but somehow reduced it to a misdemeanor, then Markell may..and I repeat, may be able to rejoin the team after some sort of in-house disciplinary action.

(Again, those are just guesses based on how other teams have dealt with this type of issue.)