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Updated Sep one, 2011 4:10 PM ET
DETROIT (AP)
Former NBA star Magic Johnson is asking a Michigan judge for ''mercy'' and no prison for former school teammate Jay Vincent.

Vincent will be sentenced Friday for fraud. He and Johnson grew up in Lansing and had been stars on the 1979 Michigan State nationwide championship crew.
In a letter to a federal judge in Grand Rapids, Johnson says Vincent is a ''really good guy'' with a ''tremendous heart.'' Johnson believes Vincent got involved with the mistaken people and ''made some genuinely undesirable choices.''
Like Johnson, the 52-year-outdated Vincent also played in the NBA. He pleaded guilty in a fraud scenario involving countless numbers of men and women who paid to turn out to be certified house inspectors. Prosecutors are recommending nine a long time in prison. Vincent has been in jail since late July for a bond violation.