Man charged with murdering UConn football player Jasper Howard pleads not guilty

Suspect in UConn stabbing pleads not guilty

HARTFORD, Conn. — A man accused of stabbing a University of Connecticut football player to death in October has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Defense attorney Deron Freeman says his client, John Lomax III, entered the not guilty plea Wednesday in Rockville Superior Court and waived his right to a probable cause hearing that had been scheduled for Thursday.

Lomax is charged with stabbing UConn cornerback Jasper Howard during an Oct. 18 fight outside a school-sanctioned dance.

Freeman says he doesn’t believe the state has the evidence to show Lomax stabbed anyone. But he says the threshold to bring the charges is so low that this week’s hearing would have amounted to a “rubber stamp.”

Freeman says he is not involved in any plea negotiations with the state and expects the case to go to trial.