Man who stabbed Aldon Smith at party pleads no-contest to assault charges

The man who stabbed Aldon Smith at the 2012 house party that remains a headache to this day recently pled no contest to one charge of assault with a deadly weapon and one charge of being a felon in possession of a gun. According to the San Jose Mercury News, Steven Barbra faces three years in prison, in part because he has a prior domestic violence felony conviction.

The shooting has led to an assortment of legal issues. According to reports, gang members crashed the party at Aldon Smith's house. Aldon was reportedly trying to break up the party when Barbra (reportedly not a gang member) stabbed him, resulting in a "superficial" wound. From the reports, someone fired shots at the garage door at some point, and Aldon brought out a .45 and fired a shot in the air. Delanie Walker reportedly fired into the air with the same gun, someone returned fire, and two random people got shot. Those two people sued Aldon and Delanie, but one of them has settled.

The cops were eventually called, and that's when they found the three guns that resulted in Aldon's weapons possession charges. A quick look at the math, and we're talking about two separate criminal incidents, a civil suit, and an assortment of simply stupid events. Good times!

Aldon Smith will learn his legal fate on July 25 at a sentencing hearing for his guns and DUI charges. He pled no contest to three felonies and a handful of misdemeanors, and while the DA said no deal was made, it would not surprise me to see the judge change the gun charges from felonies to misdemeanors in the sentencing. They are wobblers, which means they can be felonies OR misdemeanors. I suspect the guilty plea will bring a reduction. I suppose Aldon could face a small amount of jail time, but my guess is he ends up getting some mix of extensive probation, community service and a fine. I suppose he could do a short jail stint (like less than 30 days), but I would be a bit surprised by that.

The real question remains what kind of suspension he might face. I've seen some predictions of six games, but my guess (again) is that at most he gets 6 games, and an appeal knocks it to 4. The 49ers will have to figure out how to handle his absence, and Corey Lemonier would seem to be the favorite. Dan Skuta is a solid option, but Lemonier has the greater upside. Last season, when Aldon was in rehab, Skuta initially got more snaps, but Lemonier's snap count increased as the team used more nickel. I think we again see Skuta running in the base, and Lemonier in the nickel, thus meaning more snaps for Lemonier.