Ex-Boston Celtic on trial in Chicago train-guns case
CHICAGO (AP) — The trial is underway for a former Boston Celtics basketball player accused of receiving guns that were stolen off a freight train in Chicago.
Forty-three-year-old Nate Driggers looked on Monday during opening statements. A prosecutor held up one of the guns and told jurors Driggers dealt in stolen goods.
The theft of around 100 new handguns, valued at $50,000, occurred on April 12, 2015, at a South Side rail yard. Prosecutors say the thieves were street gang members and delivered 30 guns to Driggers the same day.
A defense lawyer said the government’s main witnesses are the thieves themselves who have reason to lie in hopes of reduced sentences.
Driggers’ career in the NBA was brief. He played in about a dozen games for the Celtics in the 1996-97 season.
