Tejay Johnson has been in Middlesex County jail on robbery charges since last September.
NEW BRUNSWICK -- A judge lowered the bail by $25,000 for the last ex-Rutgers football player in jail who is charged with the series of crimes that rocked the university's football team last fall.
Tejay Johnson, however, remains in jail while the judge considers reducing it by another $50,000 so he can be released.
Johnson's attorney, Ian Goldman, asked Superior Court Judge Dennis Nieves at first to lower Johnson's bail by $100,000, then said he would accept lowering it by $75,000. Johnson has been in jail since his arrest in September.
He was originally arrested for one armed robbery and posted $100,000 bail, but he was then charged with two more armed robberies in New Brunswick and taking part in an attack on Delafield Street in New Brunswick that left the victim with a broken jaw, according to authorities.
Johnson's bail was raised to $625,000 for all of the charges, including the original armed robbery. In September, Nieves lowered Johnson's bail to $325,000, noting he had already put up $100,000, so he needed to raise $225,000 to be released from the Middlesex County jail.
Goldman told the judge Friday afternoon that his client cannot raise $225,000 in bail.
"He is the last one sitting in jail of all of his co-defendants," Goldman told the judge."I would like to see him show up at his next hearing in a suit and a tie and sit next to me."
But, Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Deborah Hay pointed out that the state's case against Johnson is very strong; that his fingerprint was found at one of the robberies, that his cell phone had pictures of proceeds from one of the robberies, and that the phone contained text messages about the robberies.
Nieves also pointed out that Johnson was one of the ex-football players that confessed to police that he was involved in the robberies.The judge agreed to eliminate the bail for the assault charge, lowering the bail by $25,000, but said he wasn't ready to reduce it another $50,000 yet.
He said he would let him know Wednesday or sometime next week. Johnson and four other football players were named in four indictments in December 2015 that covered both the armed robbery home invasions and the unrelated assault on Delafield Street.
The assault on Delafield Street involved six men, all of whom were former Rutgers football players. Along with Johnson, the other former players indicted in the robberies, all of which took place in April and May 2015, are Andre Boggs and Lloyd Terry.
The other former Rutgers students indicted are Jianan Chen, Dylan Mastriana and Kaylanna Ricks. Johnson, Nadir Barnwell, Ruhann Peele, Rahzonn Gross, Delon Stephenson, and Daryl Stephenson are charged in the Delafield Street assault which took place the night of April 25, 2015.
Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @susan_epstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.