An associate of boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. denied in court Tuesday that he shot at a man who argued with the boxer at a Las Vegas skating center last August.
``Not guilty,'' Ocie Harris replied when Clark County District Court Judge Douglas Herndon asked for his plea to charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, discharging a firearm into a vehicle and carrying a concealed weapon. The judge set trial for Feb. 7.
Harris, 27, of Chicago, declined to speak with a reporter and went immediately with a bail bondsman to the Clark County jail to post $140,000 bail and remain free pending trial.
Police haven't called Mayweather a suspect in the shooting, and the fighter isn't named in a six-count felony indictment handed up by a grand jury April 21. Harris could face probation or up to 103 years in prison if convicted.
Harris' lawyer, Tom Pitaro, complained in a previous court appearance that prosecutors were trying to get to Mayweather through Harris. Pitaro declined to provide details Tuesday. Mayweather has had several scrapes with the law over the years in Las Vegas, where he lives and trains, and in Grand Rapids, Mich., where he was raised.
Mayweather, 33, is 41-0 with 25 knockouts as a professional boxer. He was guaranteed $22.5 million for his latest bout - a win last Saturday against Shane Mosley in Las Vegas.
According to police, Mayweather argued last Aug. 23 with a man inside the Crystal Palace Skating Center about a text message the man sent Mayweather wishing him bad luck in his next fight.
Witnesses told police they saw Harris talking with Mayweather and then firing at least five shots at a BMW sedan with the two men inside. Neither man in the vehicle was wounded.
Mayweather later denied knowing Harris or having any knowledge of a shooting. But police said they linked the boxer and Harris through witnesses, surveillance videotapes and records seized when authorities served search warrants at Mayweather's home.
