Judge sets Feb. 12 trial date for Pacers' Jackson

INDIANAPOLIS -- A new trial date has been set for Indiana Pacers guard Stephen Jackson, who faces charges for allegedly shooting a gun in the air several times during a fight outside an Indianapolis strip club.\nJackson was in Marion Superior Court Wednesday as a judge scheduled a Feb. 12 trial. The judge also set the same trial date for Deon Willford, who was also charged in the Oct. 6 fight outside Club Rio on the city's west side.\nOnly one trial will take place that day, and the state wants to try Willford first, said David Wyser, chief trial deputy for the Marion County prosecutor's office. Both Jackson and Willford have so far rejected deals that would have required them to plead guilty to the most serious charges, Wyser said.\nJackson, who is averaging 11.4 points per game this season, has pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of criminal recklessness and misdemeanor counts of battery and disorderly conduct. Jackson was booked into jail Oct. 12 and has been free since then on a $10,000 bond.\nThe criminal recklessness charge carries a prison term of six months to three years.\nAuthorities say Jackson, already on probation for his role in the brawl with Detroit Pistons fans two years ago, got the gun from his car and fired it in the air before Willford hit him with a different car. Teammates Jamaal Tinsley and Marquis Daniels and a former Pacer were with Jackson at the club but not charged.\nJackson's attorney, James Voyles, has characterized the incident as a fight. Jackson had stitches in his lip and other scrapes and bruises after the incident.\nOfficials have said a security camera outside the strip club captured part of the fracas. Willford's attorney, Martin Solomon, said the footage does not show his client doing anything illegal.\nBut Wyser said the video supports the state's evidence.\n"The video will speak for itself," he said.\nProsecutors also said Jackson kicked a man who police said has deformed arms. Jackson told police that the man, Quentin Willford, started the brawl. In November, Quentin Willford was arrested for resisting law enforcement and public intoxication.\nAnother man, Raymel Mattocks, who was at the club with the players, was charged with misdemeanor counts of battery, disorderly conduct and marijuana possession. Prosecutors say Mattocks, a friend of the Pacers players who lives in New York, started the fight and had marijuana, which officers found in the passenger-side door of Tinsley's car. His trial was set for Jan. 18.