- BELGRADE, Serbia: Lawyers reached a plea bargain Tuesday under which a Serb college basketball player charged with beating an American student into a coma would serve about two years in prison in his homeland, potentially ending a case that had strained relations with the US Under the agreement, 23-year-old Miladin Kovacevic would plead guilty to the brutal beating of Bryan Steinhauer and be sentenced to two years and three months — with three months of that having been served already in the US and Serbia.
He would have faced up to eight years in prison if convicted by the First Municipal Court in Belgrade of inflicting severe bodily harm with possible deadly consequences.
The plea bargain must still be approved by the court, which said it would rule on Sept. 27. US Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said early Tuesday that the punishment called for was too light.
Kovacevic is accused of repeatedly kicking Steinhauer in the chest and head after a barroom brawl in May 2008, near Binghamton University in upstate New York. The beating left the 24-year-old New Yorker with skull fractures and a severe brain injury.
The agreement was confirmed by Kovacevic's lawyer, Borivoje Borovic, and the Serbian prosecutor's office.
Kovacevic was first charged in the United States. But he jumped bail and fled to Serbia, which refused to hand him over to the US, citing local laws banning extradition.
Hillary Rodham Clinton intervened in the case, demanding Kovacevic's extradition — first as a US senator and later as secretary of state — as did Schumer.
The Serbian government eventually paid $900,000 to Steinhauer's family as part of an agreement that also called for putting Kovacevic on trial in Belgrade.
In a statement Tuesday, Schumer criticized the plea bargain.
“The punishment does not fit the crime,” he said. “This was a dastardly deed that almost killed Bryan Steinhauer.
His injuries and suffering are worth more than two years.”
Also on trial with Kovacevic are two former Serbian diplomats, who are charged with abusing their positions when they provided a false passport to Kovacevic.