Hurns gets probation Tom Gottlieb / Sports Editor Issue date: 11/2/04 Section: Sports A former Rutgers women's basketball player was sentenced to three years probation Friday for her assault on a woman she was dating and living with. Shalicia Hurns, 22, has to undergo drug and mental-health evaluations, in addition to recommended treatment by the Probation Department, in accordance with the sentence handed down by Middlesex County Superior Court judge Melvin Gelade. Hurns pled guilty to charges of terroristic threats and criminal restraint on July 23. The former Knight forward threatened to kill Kelly Evans, her roommate and a former member of the Rutgers women's soccer team. Authorities said Hurns beat Evans about the face, tied her up and untied her several times, and sank a knife into Evans' mattress. According to Assistant Prosecutor Mary Murphy, Hurns wrote on Evans' leg with a felt marker, "Dear God send me to heaven with my mother. I am gonna die." Evans' mother died six months before the run-in with Hurns, Murphy said. "Ms. Evans was distraught over the incident," Murphy said. "She had written a letter to the judge. Victims always have a right to be present at court hearings, and she chose not to be present." Defense attorney Peter Hendricks, who represented Hurns, said the sentence came after a plea agreement was reached with the prosecution. According to Hendricks, the agreement called for Hurns to plead guilty to two of the four charges in exchange for the probationary sentence. "It was very tragic for all involved, such that my client chose not to speak at sentencing," Hendricks said. "She was extremely upset over this. She is upset over the entire matter, and is remorseful towards the victim for her actions." Hendricks said Hurns is back in Indianapolis with her family, where she is currently "pursuing the requirements as set forth in sentence." Murphy said that Evans, now a senior, transferred to another college since the incident. Brian Rose, associate vice president for student affairs at Rutgers, would not comment on Hurns' student status at the University. "The offenses with which she was charged were 'separable' offenses," Rose said. "Sanctions typically imposed for these actions would be suspension or expulsion." Hurns was previously dismissed from two other colleges before she began attending Rutgers in Jan. 2002. She was dismissed from Purdue in 2001 after being arrested on drug and alcohol charges. Hurns was also asked to leave Wabash Valley Community College for disciplinary reasons the following year. Copyright (c) 2004 The Daily Targum