Dustin Diamond Released from Jail

Diamond's attorney says he will be exonerated

Photo: Chris Polk/FilmMagic

Former Saved by the Bell star Dustin Diamond was released from a Wisconsin jail Monday afternoon after he posted $10,000 bail.

An hour after he was released, Diamond, who is accused of stabbing a man at a bar in Port Washington, appeared in court for a status hearing along with his private attorney, Thomas Alberti.

Diamond, 37, was charged with second-degree recklessly endangering safety, disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon after he admitted he was armed with a knife during a fight Dec. 25 at the Grand Avenue Saloon. Diamond, who was interviewed after he left the bar, told officers he was defending his 27-year-old fiancée Amanda Schutz.

“Dustin doesn’t feel like he is being wronged,” Alberti tells PEOPLE. “He gets that when something like this happens, the police get involved and the court figures it out. He says the Port Washington police have been nothing but exemplary. He gets it. He knows there is a process in this country and in the end he will be exonerated.”

During the hearing, Alberti asked the judge to reduce Diamond’s bail because he has no criminal history and acted in self-defense.

“The State is in possession of photographs and/or Police Officer statements that may reasonably conclude that [Diamond’s] [fiancée], Amanda Schutz, had been punched in the face and forcibly held by more than one adult male,” according to a Monday motion filed by Alberti. “[Diamond] produced a pocketknife in a desperate attempt to defend his [fiancée] from further harm. [Diamond] hoped to deter the aggressors with the only option that he had: a pocketknife. It was not until one of the aggressors attempted to tackle [Diamond] that any alleged injury occurred.”

After the incident, police interviewed the alleged stabbing victim at his home as paramedics evaluated him. The man, who was identified only as Casey, told police that he saw Diamond “being negative and fighting with people,” according to the filed criminal complaint. He then approached Diamond and “had pushed him on one or two occasions.”

Casey said that at one point Diamond reached out towards him and then left the bar. He told officers he didn’t see the knife and initially didn’t realize he had been cut. He suffered a half-inch puncture stab wound under his right armpit. His wound was not life threatening.

Schutz was charged with disorderly conduct and released, according to CNN.

Alberti says it is not uncommon for people in Wisconsin to carry pocketknives.

“It is just an everyday tool,” he says. “It is not at all uncommon. Dustin has zero criminal history. He is not a thug walking around trying to stick people up.”

“Dustin and Amanda are neat people,” he adds. “They are upbeat. Dustin is a comedian and he likes making people laugh and pleasing people. He is a good-natured person.”

Diamond is best known as nerdy Samuel “Screech” Powers in the early 1990s sitcom Saved by the Bell.