Pacers, fans charged in court

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. -- A judge set up a possible courtroom reunion between five Indiana Pacers players and four fans seen brawling on countlessly replayed video loops when she ordered them to appear in court on the same day.\nNine people charged in the brawl at The Palace of Auburn Hills were scheduled for a pretrial conference Tuesday afternoon in 52nd District Court in Rochester Hills.\nIt was not immediately clear whether District Judge Lisa Asadoorian planned to gather the defendants in the same room at the same time. It also was not known whether each planned to attend the hearing.\nA warrant was expected to be issued for any defendant who failed to appear. The Pacers were not scheduled to play a game Monday night or Tuesday. Their next game is Wednesday night in Boston.\nA pretrial conference is held to discuss matters such as evidence and witnesses and to establish a timetable.\nPacers players facing misdemeanor charges in the Nov. 19 brawl are Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, Anthony Johnson, David Harrison and Jermaine O'Neal.\nFans charged with misdemeanors are John Green, John Ackerman, William Paulson and David Wallace, brother of Pistons center Ben Wallace.\nFan Bryant Jackson, 37, is charged with felony assault for allegedly tossing a chair. His preliminary examination initially was delayed Tuesday morning so he and his lawyer could review a video that the prosecution had not provided earlier.\nWhen the conference resumed, several witnesses took the stand, including two who testified they had been struck by a chair during the brawl.\nAuburn Hills police Officer James Stoinski described how he was escorting Harrison off the court that night when the Pacers player veered off into the stands. At that time, Stoinski said something struck him, but he didn't know what it was. He said he later watched video footage of the brawl and said he could see himself getting hit by a chair.\nJulie Socia, who works in guest relations at The Palace, also said she was struck by a chair.\n"For the first three weeks, I had constant headaches and nausea. Since then, I've had a headache every day," she testified.\nThree brawl videos -- two of which were taken by spectators in the upper level -- were shown in court Tuesday as witnesses testified.\nThe two amateur videos showed a man in a backward baseball cap and dark jacket hurling a chair above his head. Video taken by WDIV-TV in Detroit shows the man in the baseball cap loosening the chair from the rows of VIP seating on the floor of The Palace. At one point, the man is seen looking straight at the camera.\nOn Monday, a spectator whom police say was punched by two players during the fight pleaded no contest to violating a local ordinance prohibiting fans from entering the basketball court during an NBA game.\nCharlie Haddad, 21, of Burt, Mich., is scheduled to be sentenced March 16. He faces up to 90 days in jail or a $500 fine.