The ex-Rutgers students and football players charged in a series of crimes in New Brunswick return to court next month. Watch video
NEW BRUNSWICK --The ex-Rutgers University football players and students charged in a series of home invasions and an unrelated assault last year had their court cases rescheduled for next month.
Six of the ex-football players who are charged in the assault on Delafield Street a year ago that authorities said left the victim with a broken jaw were supposed to be in court Monday but their case was postponed to next month.
One of the ex-players in the case, Delon Stephenson, is considering pleading guilty in the case. He is charged with second-degree aggravated assault and other counts.
At a hearing in March, Superior Court Judge Dennis Nieves, who is presiding over the case, said the plea offer is to a third degree charge with the recommendation that Stephenson be placed on probation after he serves a certain amount of time in the Middlesex County jail. A second degree crime could put him in state prison for about seven years.
Nieves said in January that prosecutors consider Stephenson the "main guy" in the assault," who is alleged to have thrown the punch. The others, Tejay Johnson, Ruhann Peele, Nadir Barnwell, Delon's brother, Daryl Stephenson, and Razohnn Gross, are charged with participating in the assault.
The judge said if Delon Stephenson pleads guilty, his brother, Daryl, Barnwell, and Gross, will be admitted into pre-trial intervention, a probationary program for first-time offenders.
If they are allowed in Daryl Stephenson, Gross and Barnwell would plead guilty to an offense but would have their records cleared after a few years if they stayed out of trouble and completed whatever requirements were set for them by the program.
Meanwhile, despite an impassioned plea by his attorney earlier this month to reduce his bail, Tejay Johnson remains in the Middlesex County jail.
Nieves lowered Johnson's bail by $25,000 on April 1 and said he would consider reducing it further, but his bail remains set at $300,000 for three armed robberies. He put up $100,000 in September after being charged with the initial armed robbery. But, after he was charged with the additional robberies and the assault on Delafield Street, he needed an additional $225,000 and has not been able to raise it.
"He is the last one sitting in jail of all of his co-defendants," his attorney, Ian Goldman," told the judge at the hearing April 1.
Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @susan_epstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.