NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (Jan. 17, 2006) -- The wife of Indianapolis Colts cornerback Nick Harper was released from jail on $5,000 bond Jan. 17, facing charges of stabbing him with a filet knife during an argument at their home.
Daniell Harper, 31, spent the weekend in the Hamilton County Jail after her arrest Jan. 14 on preliminary charges of battery with a deadly weapon and criminal recklessness. She was arraigned on closed-circuit television from jail, and Magistrate Karl Hadley entered a plea of not guilty on her behalf.
Pretrial hearings were set for March 21 and May 15, and her trial was set for June 6.
Nick Harper was treated at an Indianapolis hospital Jan. 14 after deputies and paramedics found him with a puncture wound to his right knee, police said. His wife told authorities the stabbing was accidental, sheriff's department Sgt. Kevin W. Fessel said.
Harper played in the 21-18 playoff loss to Pittsburgh Jan. 15, and nearly won the game for his team with a late return of a fumble recovery. After picking up Jerome Bettis ' fumble at the Colts' 2-yard-line with 1:20 left, Harper appeared headed toward a touchdown before Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger reached out and made a saving tackle at the Indy 42.
Hamilton County Sheriff Doug Carter said he didn't think the dispute "began as a violent confrontation between the two. I think this began as a conversation between the two that escalated."
Police said Daniell Harper told them she was upset because her husband would not speak to her. She got a knife from a kitchen drawer and began waving it over him as he lay in bed at their suburban Indianapolis home. Carter said she also had a folding knife.
Colts president Bill Polian said Harper's wound was an inch deep and a half-inch wide. It required three stitches, but Polian said there was no damage to the knee joint or capsule.
Harper, who signed with the Colts as a free agent in 2001, was arrested in June on a domestic battery charge after police said he hit his wife. The case was still pending.
The couple's three children were home during the argument but were unharmed, police said. They were placed with other family members.
No phone listing was available for Nick or Daniell Harper in the Indianapolis area. The Associated Press left a voice mail message with James Voyles, who represented Nick Harper in the domestic battery case.
