The defendants entered not guilty pleas at their arraignments Wednesday.
NEW BRUNSWICK -- The former Rutgers University students who were indicted late last year in a series of home invasions and an unrelated assault pleaded not guilty Wednesday.
The arraignment, before Judge Dennis Nieves, is one of many court dates to come as a dozen people face charges in an alleged crime spree that sent shockwaves through the Rutgers community and helped lead to change in the Rutgers University athletics department.
On Dec. 16, a grand jury charged Tejay Johnson, Andre Boggs, Lloyd Terry, Jianan Chen, Dylan Mastriana and Kaylanna Ricks in a series of home invasions over the spring of 2015.
In an unrelated case, Johnson and five other people were indicted in an aggravated assault on Delafield Street. The argument allegedly involved a parking spot.
Eight of the defendants in the two unrelated cases are former Rutgers University football players; everyone, including the alleged victims, attended Rutgers University.
http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2015/12/criminal_investigation_into_rutgers_football.html
In the court hearing Tuesday, Nieves told former football player Delon Stephenson that he was the "main guy" in the Delafield assault, which occurred in late April.
"Your decision is the key decision on whether this case goes to trial," Nieves said.
Stephenson is alleged to have thrown the punch in an assault that Johnson, Ruhann Peele, Nadir Barnwell, Daryl Stephenson and Razohnn Gross are accused of participating in. The student that Delon Stephenson punched suffered a broken jaw, police have said.
Barnwell, Razohnn Gross and Delon's brother Daryl Stephenson have applied for pre-trial intervention, but would only be accepted if Delon Stephenson pleaded guilty to a second-degree offense, according to George Hendricks, the lawyer representing Gross.
Pre-trial intervention is a probationary program for first-time offenders. If they're 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 would be spared jail time.
A second-degree guilty plea for Delon Stephenson would involve jail time. Because he's alleged to have thrown the punch, prosecutors will object to his acceptance into PTI. Peele is unlikely to be eligible for the program because he was arrested again less for a separate alleged assault two months later.
It was also revealed in court today that Chen, one of the alleged planners of the robbery sprees, is facing further grand jury action, along with Terry, one of the alleged participants.
Staff writer Brian Amaral contributed to this report.
Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @susan_epstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.