More investigation was deemed necessary Wednesday in the aggravated assault case against Nigel Scarlett, ASMSU Student Assembly vice chairperson for external affairs.
The decision was made at a pretrial hearing at the 54-B District Court in East Lansing between the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office and Scarlett’s lawyer, James Newton.
“The prosecutor and I discussed the case, and we decided that there needed to be additional investigation into it,” Newton said.
An additional pretrial hearing will be scheduled for the prosecutor’s office and Newton to go over the results of the investigation, Newton said.
The hearing date was not set Wednesday.
“Hopefully (the investigation takes) just a couple of weeks,” Newton said. “We’d like to speed the process up.”
The pretrial hearing comes less than three weeks after Scarlett was arraigned on one count of aggravated assault stemming from a July 5 incident.
Scarlett pleaded not guilty at the arraignment, although court records mistakenly stated he entered a guilty plea.
According to a police report, a 26-year-old victim stated Scarlett pushed him to the ground and punched him multiple times when he tried to stand back up. The victim’s chin required stitches following the incident, the report said.
A friend of the victim corroborated his account of the incident, the report stated.
Scarlett left the scene and was arrested later that morning, the report stated.
He waived his Miranda rights and told police the victim pushed him first and came up swinging after being pushed in retaliation.
He was given a preliminary breath test that registered his blood alcohol level at 0.10 percent, the report said.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
