Some details changed when Steelers tackle Mike Adams testified at a preliminary hearing for the three men charged with stabbing and carjacking him, and defense lawyers were ready to pounce on those inconsistencies.
Adams was stabbed in the abdomen in June in an alleged robbery attempt, suffering a lacerated colon. He told police officers then that he was leaving a restaurant when three men approached, one pulling a gun and demanding the keys to his truck, another punching him and another stabbing him.
According to Liz Navratil of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the version told in court Thursday was slightly different.
Adams said he spent three hours at the Local Bar & Kitchen, had two drinks, and left to walk to a nearby Jimmy John’s for a sandwich. He said he was approached by the three men after he sat in his truck and ate the sandwich, and some other details of the incident were different than the original report, including that one man showed a gun but never raised it higher than his hip.
Defense attorneys asked Adams how much he had to drink, and after several questions, senior district judge Edward Tibbs said: “It doesn’t matter if he was a drunk on the street and stabbed, . . . it doesn’t matter.”
“The story Mr. Adams told today is inaccurate,” said defense lawyer Randall McKinney. “Mr. Adams did instigate.”
The three men arrested — Jerrell Whitlock, Dquay Means and Michael Paranay — will stand trial for attempted homicide, conspiracy to steal a vehicle and other crimes when the case goes to trial.