A high school All-American at Pershing. An All-Big Ten guard at Michigan State for Tom Izzo. An NBA player. Now incarcerated, facing murder charges after a series of arrests. Gone was Appling’s jersey, traded for an orange jumpsuit with a much longer number: Michigan Department of Corrections inmate No. 390955. A library his place of solace from the court instead of a locker room. The brief realization of reaching his dream of making the NBA replaced by a string of court dates ever since, with each arrest and accusation more severe than the last. “I think unfortunately, Keith is gonna be a story and an example that people use of what could go wrong and why it’s important to stay on the straight and narrow,” said Brandon Grier, Appling’s former agent and fellow Detroit native. “A life and such a talented kid that went down the wrong path.”
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On January 18, 2016, Grier made a deal. The Magic and coach Scott Skiles, another former MSU star, called and wanted to sign Appling to a 10-day contract. Grief called and gave his client the news. Appling’s response? “He actually told us he was firing us as we gave him that great news,” Grier recalled.
A former Michigan State University basketball star was ordered to remain in jail Thursday during his first court appearance on murder and other charges in Detroit. Defense attorney Andrew Abood asked for a bond, saying Keith Appling had always appeared in court in previous cases. But a magistrate denied bond, noting the first-degree murder charge.
Judges in two different counties had issued bench warrants for former MSU basketball star Keith Appling for alleged probation violations before he was arrested Monday in connection with the fatal shooting of a relative.
A warrant was issued for Appling in February in the Macomb County case after he was allegedly found with heroin during a traffic stop in Warren. Due to that incident, Wayne County Circuit Judge Lawrence Talon ordered Appling to court for a show-cause hearing in March. Show cause hearings carry the possibility of a return to jail or a prison sentence.
Keith Appling was arrested today by Michigan State Police in Chelsea in connection to a fatal shooting that occurred Saturday night on Detroit's west side. The former Michigan State University basketball star was named a suspect in the shooting that left a 66-year-old man dead Saturday. Police say Appling fired multiple gunshots, then fled the scene in a Buick Regal, and a search ensued for Appling on Sunday.
Former Michigan State basketball star Keith Appling has been named a suspect in a fatal shooting that happened Saturday night on Detroit's west side. According to the Detroit Police Department, Appling, 29, and a 66-year-old man had a verbal altercation that became physical in the 13200 block of Whitcomb, near Greenfield and Schoolcraft. Police say Appling fired multiple gunshots and then fled the scene in a newer model tan-colored Buick Regal.
