Over two years after a brutal beating left a Binghamton University student in a coma, his alleged attacker is going on trial. But while the attack took place near the school, the trial is happening in Serbia, where defendant Miladin Kovacevic lives, because he fled the United States—with the help of the Serbian consul—shortly after the incident. And things got off to a bang, literally: The Daily News reports that a Belgrade police officer accidentally fired his gun at a security checkpoint in the courthouse.
On May 4, 2008, Kovacevic, a basketball player at 6' 9" and 260 pounds, allegedly beat up Brooklyn resident Bryan Steinhauer (5'6" and 135 pounds), thinking Steinhauer groped a friend's girlfriend at a bar. Though the girlfriend said she wasn't touched, Kovacevic reportedly attacked Steinhauer who suffered shattered cheeks, a fractured skull and brain injuries and remained in a coma for months. Kovacevic's escape to Serbia soured relations between the country and the U.S.—Senator Charles Schumer wanted to cut off aid and eventually Secretary of State Hillary Clinton brokered a $1 million payout from the Serbian government to Steinhauer.
In Serbia, Kovacevic was charged with the beating earlier this year but today his lawyers offered up some novel excuses. According to the News, "They claimed that Kovacevic was prosecuted in the U.S. as a juvenile, so that evidence cannot be used in Serbia where he was charged before regular courts." However, Kovacevic was 20 at the time of the alleged attack and was charged as an adult; Steinhauer's lawyer said the defense's manuever "doesn't conform to the facts." But the judge allowed for a day's delay to check out the claims.
