Baxter Sentenced to Jail in Gun Incident

"I'd like to first just apologize to the court, to the District of Columbia and also to my family, for the careless, selfish, stupid act that I committed," he told the judge.

Iscoe acknowledged Baxter's prompt cooperation with authorities but said he could not go along with the government's recommendation of probation.

The government had given Baxter a "great break" in conditionally dropping the most serious charge, Iscoe said. In sentencing Baxter for the other two charges to which he pleaded guilty -- possession of an unregistered firearm and unregistered ammunition -- he could not be so lenient, Iscoe said.

"There's no good reason for a person who's not working in law enforcement or presidential protection to be in possession of a loaded weapon within blocks of the White House, let alone to fire it into the air," Iscoe said.

Iscoe sentenced Baxter to about nine months in jail but suspended all but 60 days of that sentence, meaning that if Baxter stays out of trouble, he will not have to serve the remaining time. Iscoe also placed him on probation for 18 months, fined him $2,000 and ordered him to perform 100 hours of community service.

"In imposing sentence," Iscoe declared, "I have to consider . . . not only your desire that your punishment not interfere with your basketball career but my responsibility to the citizens o the District of Columbia. . . . And I'm sorry, sir, because I recognize the serious consequences that this will have on your career, but you're the one that took the actions, you're the one that chose to purchase that gun, to load it, to carry it in your SUV and to fire it into the air, and you're the one that will have to suffer the consequences for your deliberate and intentional actions."

Staff writers Allison Klein, Ernesto Londoño and Eric Prisbell contributed to this report.