Second former Aggie basketball player takes plea deal, agrees to testify at trial

A second former New Mexico State Aggie basketball player charged in relation to the alleged sexual assault and hazing of teammates two seasons ago has agreed to a plea deal that could allow him to avoid jail time in exchange for testifying against a third accused teammate.

Kim Aiken Jr., who never played a game for NMSU but was on the team for the 2022-23 season after transferring from Arizona, formally agreed on Tuesday morning in State District Court in Las Cruces to plead guilty to two felony counts of false imprisonment and one count of conspiracy — reducing his potential prison exposure from a maximum of 24 years down to a maximum of four and a half years, though those would be suspended, should he successfully complete probation.

Aiken and former Aggie teammates Doctor Bradley and Deshawndre Washington were each indicted by a grand jury in November on various felony charges including rape, false imprisonment and conspiracy. The case stems from other teammates alleging they were hazed, including acts sexual in nature, by the trio between Aug. 8, 2022, and Nov. 18, 2022.

The New Mexico Attorney General’s Office is prosecuting the case and extended the plea agreements.

Bradley in October was the first to accept a plea agreement, having his charges dropped to misdemeanors in exchange for his testimony. Aiken’s plea on Tuesday now means both will be available as witnesses in the scheduled Feb. 21 trial of Washington in Las Cruces.

Both Bradley and Aiken’s sentencing hearings are set for March 4, after the Washington trial concludes. However, a pending motion could delay Washington’s trial, which could also push back Bradley’s and Aiken’s sentencing. Neither Bradley nor Aiken admitted guilt to any of the charges related to the sexual assault allegations.

When the hazing allegations became public in February 2023, NMSU abruptly cancelled the men’s basketball season and fired head coach Greg Heiar. The university settled a civil lawsuit with two former players for $8 million (roughly $4 million for each player), and at least two other players and a student manager have filed a civil suit claiming they too were victims of sexual assault.

Civil lawsuit update

On Oct. 10, an attorney for the NMSU Board of Regents filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit of former Aggie player Bol Kuir, who in August filed suit against the school, former head coach Greg Heiar and Athletic Director Mario Moccia.

The school announced in April 2022 it had signed Kuir, a 7-foot-3 center from Sudan who had played at a prep school in Kentucky. The NMSU release stated Kuir turned down “offers from Power Five and high mid-major programs” and had a quote from Heiar calling him a “generational talent.”

Once on campus in June 2022 for summer workouts, Kuir says he saw players “pantsing” each other, inappropriate touching, players filming teammates in the showers, fighting and “the presence of guns,” all of which bothered him and made him concerned about his immigration status. He reported what he saw to his guardian, a former NMSU player, who says he reported Kuir’s concerns to NMSU, according to his lawsuit.

Kuir asked out of his scholarship to play at Kansas State, the lawsuit alleges. NMSU would not let him out of his scholarship, the lawsuit states, and Kuir says Heiar told him to quit being a “tattle tale.”

In August, Kuir returned to Las Cruces from a trip to see his family and said that’s when he learned he was kicked out of his apartment, was kicked off the team and was no longer on scholarship.

Kuir’s suit claims a violation of his civil rights, stating the university failed to run the athletics department and men’s basketball team “so that it would be reasonably safe for its student athletes,” and that he was retaliated against for reporting wrongdoing.

The NMSU Board of Regents in its October filing claims Kuir didn’t file notice of his intent to sue in time under the New Mexico Tort Claims Act.

Joleen Youngers, Kuir’s attorney, in her response states NMSU’s motion was “untimely” and that it “seeks to enforce a notice provision that simply doesn’t exist under the New Mexico Civil Rights Act.”

The next hearing for the Kuir case, one of multiple pending civil suits stemming from the 2022-23 men’s basketball season at NMSU, is set for a pretrial conference on Feb. 26.