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 injure another fan, has been granted a jury trial before Orchard Park Town Justice Edward A. Pace. Jury selection is scheduled to begin 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 Thursday’s 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.
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 Thursday’s 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.