Dustin Diamond, the actor best known for his role as Screech on "Saved by the Bell," is trying to stay out of jail as his stabbing trial in goes into its third day in Wisconsin.
The 38-year-old is facing charges for second-degree recklessly endangering safety, disorderly conduct, and carrying a concealed weapon in Ozaukee County Circuit Court while his fiancée Amanda Schultz faces a count of
disorderly conduct, the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel reported.
The charges are connected to a Christmas Day bar brawl in Port Washington, Wisconsin, in which Casey Smet, a patron at the Grand Ave. Saloon, was stabbed.
Circuit court Judge Paul Malloy scolded defense attorneys Thomas Alberti and Anthony Cotton early Thursday for disrespectful conduct and misrepresenting witness testimony, the Journal Sentinel reported.
The newspaper said the trial sputtered along Thursday as Malloy sent the jury away "multiple times" so he could settle disagreements between prosecutors and defense attorneys.
WTMJ-AM radio reported that on Wednesday, Malloy admonished Alberti, who is representing Diamond, for arriving at court in a car with the words "Good luck Dustin and Amanda" written in white polish on his back window, similar to what's done in weddings and sporting events.
"I'm telling you right now, anymore shenanigans like that and you'll find yourself in contempt faster than fast," Malloy warned Alberti in court, reported WTMJ-AM.
Alberti told reporters that he did not mean any harm with the gesture and was simply trying to show support for his clients.
Diamond insists the stabbing was accidental, and says he was just defending his fiancée who had asked bar patrons to stop taking pictures of her. Prosecutors claim, though, that Schultz pushed a member of Smet's party when she stood up to leave.
E! News reported that the victim said he shoved Diamond during the dispute and didn't realize he was stabbed until later.
People magazine reported that a police body-camera video shows a bleeding cut on Smet's abdomen with the victim saying that he didn't know the name of the man who stabbed him but could point him out.