Gerald Murray Pleads Guilty to Drug Charge

Gerald Murray, a former center on the San Diego State basketball team, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of selling rock cocaine to an undercover police officer.

Murray entered his guilty plea in San Diego Municipal Court as part of an agreement with the San Diego County District Attorney’s office. In exchange, five other drug-related charges against him were dropped.

Murray faces a maximum penalty of five years in state prison and a fine of $20,000. Judge Lisa Guy-Schall set sentencing for June 8.

No agreement was made regarding Murray’s sentence in exchange for his guilty plea, Deputy Dist. Atty. Douglas C. Gregg said. But Guy-Schall said Wednesday that, assuming that this was Murray’s first drug offense, she was more likely to consider a county jail sentence.

Gary S. Bloch, Murray’s court-appointed attorney, said he still hoped that Murray would receive probation. Murray agreed to the plea bargain Wednesday morning before the start of a scheduled preliminary hearing.

“It was a difficult decision,” Bloch said. “Gerald really wanted to go to trial, but when we weighed everything, we considered the plea was in his best interest.”

Murray first was arrested on drug charges Aug. 1. He was arrested twice more during the next four months and has been free on $10,000 bail since several days after his latest arrest Nov. 24.

Murray, 23, pleaded guilty in connection with a Nov. 21 sale of $120 worth of rock cocaine to an undercover officer. Murray said he drove the officer to the Pickwick Hotel on Broadway, where the officer purchased the cocaine from Samuel Richardson, an acquaintance of Murray’s.

Richardson and another defendant, Tommy Russell, also pleaded guilty to sale of cocaine Wednesday before scheduled preliminary hearings. Natosha Plousha, the fourth defendant in the case, was bound over for an April 27 trial by Guy-Schall after a preliminary hearing Wednesday.

Plousha, Murray’s girlfriend, is charged with possession of rock cocaine for sale and operating a place for the sale of drugs. The charges stem from a Sept. 1 raid on the apartment Plousha shared with Murray in the 4200 block of 49th Street in East San Diego. Police seized approximately 3 1/2 ounces of rock cocaine in the raid, most of which they said was displayed openly in the living room, dining room and kitchen.

Plousha’s younger brother, Randy Anderson, who also frequented the apartment, testified at his sister’s hearing that he had seen Murray sell rock cocaine in the apartment. He said Murray often would answer the door when people came to the apartment to purchase rock cocaine.

Murray, testifying at the same hearing, said although he saw drugs in the apartment, he did not participate in the sale or in aiding the sale of drugs.

Murray was charged with possession of rock cocaine for sale in connection with the Sept. 1 raid, but that was one of the charges dropped in exchange for his guilty plea. Also dropped were two counts each of sale of cocaine and possession of cocaine for sale.