PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. (AP) – Dustin Diamond, the actor who played Screech in the 1990s television show Saved by the Bell, appeared in a Wisconsin courtroom yesterday after posting bail on charges that he stabbed a man during a bar fight on Christmas.
Diamond, who spent the weekend in jail, posted $10 000 bail before his hearing in Ozaukee County Circuit Court. A criminal complaint charges Diamond with second-degree recklessly endangering safety, disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon.
Defence attorney Thomas Alberti requested reduced bail and a jury trial for Diamond, 37, who was wearing street clothes and did not speak in court.
“Dustin has complete faith in the justice system,” Alberti said outside the courtroom. He added that Diamond was “not happy he missed the Packers game” while in jail.
But Alberti said Diamond “made the best of his time here. He got caught up on some books”.
The complaint says Diamond and his fiancee got into a tussle with two men and a woman at the Grand Avenue Saloon in Port Washington, where Diamond lives, on Thursday night.
Diamond told police he accidentally stabbed one of the men while trying to defend his fiancee. The man was not seriously injured. Police say officers recovered a switchblade.
Diamond’s next court hearing is scheduled for January 5.
