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Bail set at $25K after fatal punch in Vegas casino
Posted: Jul 12, 2011 4:25 PM by Matt Stafford
LAS VEGAS (AP) - A judge has set bail at $25,000 for a Florida high school football coach charged with murder after a punch left a man dead in a Las Vegas Strip casino.
Jack Buchanan, an attorney for 37-year-old Benjamin Hawkins of Gainesville, Fla., said his family was confident they could post bail Tuesday.
Hawkins told police 46-year-old John Massie of Roy, Utah, made a comment about a black man in a yellow shirt in the restroom of O'Shea's Las Vegas Casino on July 6.
Hawkins, who is black, said he punched Massie in the jaw because he feared an attack from behind.
The Clark County coroner determined Massie died of a head injury from the punch and from hitting the floor.
Hawkins has pleaded not guilty.
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