NY state senator faces trial in run-in with photog
Posted: 04.30.2010 at 5:58 AM
Senator Kevin Parker  / NYS Senate
Photo

NEW YORK (AP) -- Prosecutors are planning a trial this summer for a state senator accused of attacking a New York Post photographer. This is the same state senator who verbally attacked Senator John DeFrancisco in an outburst during a Senate Finance Committee hearing in Albany earlier this week.

Brooklyn district attorney spokesman Jerry Schmetter says they're aiming for trial in June or July.

Prosecutors allege William Lopez's finger was broken when Sen. Kevin Parker grabbed his camera last May. They recently returned to a grand jury to restore felony assault charges after Judge Neil Firetog had dismissed them citing little evidence of serious injury.

Parker's lawyer, Lonnie Hart Jr., questioned any new information presented, saying the photographer was checked by emergency personnel and didn't go to the hospital.

A felony conviction would automatically cost Parker's Senate seat. He also faces lesser charges.

(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)