Attorney for suspect in robbery of KU students says client wasn’t involved in crime

A defense attorney for a Fort Leavenworth military police officer accused of robbing two Kansas University students last June says a co-defendant’s new statement to police points to her client’s innocence.

District Judge Paula Martin on Thursday set a November trial date in the case of Brandon James Huggins, 23, who faces two counts of aggravated robbery, one count of conspiracy and one count of making a criminal threat. Douglas County prosecutors accuse Huggins and his childhood friend, Michael Martin Gerald, 21, of robbing two male KU students early on June 23 at gunpoint as the two students were walking along Memorial Drive.

Gerald pleaded guilty in September to two counts of robbery and awaits sentencing. During a brief scheduling hearing Thursday, Sarah Swain, a defense attorney for Huggins, asked Martin for a trial date because she said Gerald had given KU police officers a new statement.

“He says my client was not involved with this,” Swain said.

Swain has argued at an earlier hearing that Huggins was not involved in the robbery and criticized investigators for not looking into the possibility a third man matching the victims’ description of the second robber.