SANTA ANA, Calif. — The son of basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was sentenced to six months in jail for stabbing a Southern California neighbor with a hunting knife during an argument over trash cans, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Adam Abdul-Jabbar, 29, was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of carrying a dirk or dagger, with sentencing enhancements for inflicting great bodily injury, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.
Abdul-Jabbar accepted a plea deal from an Orange County judge. The sentence was stayed until Jan. 7 so that Abdul-Jabbar can apply for home confinement instead of incarceration, the DA’s office s aid.
Probation officials will decide whether he will be permitted home confinement.
Prosecutors had sought a seven-year jail sentence and objected to the plea offer.
Abdul-Jabbar and his San Clemente neighbor share a driveway. Abdul-Jabbar stabbed the 60-year-old neighbor several times on June 9 of last year after the man confronted him about failing to take in trash cans for Abdul-Jabbar’s elderly roommate, prosecutors said.
The 60-year-old, was stabbed in the back of the head, suffering a fractured skull and nearly died of blood loss after collapsing outside of the emergency room, prosecutors said.
“This slap on the wrist is an absolute miscarriage of justice,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement after the sentencing. “This man nearly bled to death in front of the emergency room doors after being stabbed so violently over and over that his skull was fractured.”
“We believe the complete disregard for human life over a dispute over trashcans is so egregious it warranted prison time,” Spitzer said.