Posted in Criminal Defense Lawyers
Not even the bell could save Dustin Diamond from going to jail after he allegedly stabbed 25-year-old Casey Smet in a Wisconsin bar on Christmas Day in 2014. He was arrested the next morning.
In January 2015, the former Saved by the Bell actor was charged with reckless endangerment and two other counts after getting into the altercation with two men and a woman at Grand Avenue Saloon in Port Washington, WI. According to a police report, the victim couldn’t confirm that the actor had stabbed him and that he never saw a knife. Additionally, the victim did not find out he was stabbed until long after the barroom brawl.
Diamond’s trial began on May 27, 2015 and lasted three days. During the trial, Diamond testified in court that he was trying to protect his girlfriend, Amanda Schutz, during the scuffle, which occurred after some people recognized him from the ‘90s show and wanted to take photos with him. Additionally, witnesses testified that Diamond’s girlfriend incited the incident by pushing a woman at the bar and grabbing another woman’s hand. Meanwhile, District Attorney Adam Gerol claimed that Diamond lied about the stabbing and argued the actor had scripted his testimony, according to the Chicago Tribune.
On May 30, 2015, a jury convicted the then-38-year-old actor on two misdemeanors–carrying a concealed weapon and disorderly conduct, but cleared the actor of the more serious felony charge of reckless endangerment. Like the former child star, Schutz was also convicted on disorderly conduct charges.
At the time of the guilty verdicts, Diamond’s lawyer gave the statement, “We’re happy with the results, we think that justice has been done. The jury did a good job.”
Diamond’s first misdemeanor carried a maximum sentence of nine months in prison. The second misdemeanor carried a maximum of 90 days. However, on June 25, 2015, Wisconsin Judge Paul Malloy sentenced Diamond to four months in jail for the bar stabbing incident. The judge ordered the actor to report to jail on June 29, according to the Associated Press.
After three months of jail time, Diamond was released for good behavior, which included performing janitorial work, cleaning floors and doing laundry, according to ABC News.
