Robert Hopkins, the Buffalo Bills fan who last fall tried to slide down a railing at Ralph Wilson Stadium, only to fall on and severely injury another fan, was granted a jury trial before Orchard Park Town Justice Edward A. Pace.
Jury selection is scheduled to get underway June 11.
During a hearing Thursday, Hopkins’ lawyer, Patrick J. Brown, advised the judge his client was requesting the jury trial on misdemeanor assault and reckless endangerment charges lodged against him in the Nov. 17 incident.
Hopkins, 29, whose stadium fall was caught on camera and widely publicized, landed on the head of a fan who still suffers from severe head, neck and back injuries. Hopkins did not speak during the four-minute court session.
G. Michael Drmacich, the prosecutor in the case, did not object to the jury trial. Afterward, Drmacich declined to comment on the refusal of District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III to offer a plea deal.
If convicted, Hopkins could face one year in jail.
Within a day of the fall, Hopkins was fired from his job as digital art director for the Eric Mower advertising and public relations firm, and also banned from the stadium.
Pace scheduled June 11 and 12 for the trial after Brown suggested the trial would take two days to complete after the jury selection. The judge also set aside June 13, in the event the trial runs into a third day.
As Hopkins left the Orchard Park courtroom, he declined to comment.
Brown said Hopkins wants the jury trial because of the “grave” consequences of the stadium incident. He would not say if Hopkins will take the witness stand to testify in his own defense. Brown also called the incident “an accident, not a crime.”
“Hopkins feels very badly that someone was injured and whatever the jury decides is what we’ll have to live with,” he added..
email: mgryta@buffnews.com,
Jury selection is scheduled to get underway June 11.
During a hearing Thursday, Hopkins’ lawyer, Patrick J. Brown, advised the judge his client was requesting the jury trial on misdemeanor assault and reckless endangerment charges lodged against him in the Nov. 17 incident.
Hopkins, 29, whose stadium fall was caught on camera and widely publicized, landed on the head of a fan who still suffers from severe head, neck and back injuries. Hopkins did not speak during the four-minute court session.
G. Michael Drmacich, the prosecutor in the case, did not object to the jury trial. Afterward, Drmacich declined to comment on the refusal of District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III to offer a plea deal.
If convicted, Hopkins could face one year in jail.
Within a day of the fall, Hopkins was fired from his job as digital art director for the Eric Mower advertising and public relations firm, and also banned from the stadium.
Pace scheduled June 11 and 12 for the trial after Brown suggested the trial would take two days to complete after the jury selection. The judge also set aside June 13, in the event the trial runs into a third day.
As Hopkins left the Orchard Park courtroom, he declined to comment.
Brown said Hopkins wants the jury trial because of the “grave” consequences of the stadium incident. He would not say if Hopkins will take the witness stand to testify in his own defense. Brown also called the incident “an accident, not a crime.”
“Hopkins feels very badly that someone was injured and whatever the jury decides is what we’ll have to live with,” he added..
email: mgryta@buffnews.com,