The 23-year-old Rochester man charged with two counts of assault related to a reported stabbing at Harmony Park near Geneva Lake pleaded not guilty to both counts on Friday in Freeborn County District Court.

Public defender Stephen Erickson requested a speedy jury trial for the man, Casey Alan Gefre, which is expected to last two days. The pre-trial is generally the week before.

Gefre faces one count of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of third-degree assault related to the incident July 26.

According to court documents, Gefre allegedly stabbed a man in the upper left leg with a steak knife during the early morning hours following a class reunion.

The victim and Gefre gave differing stories of what took place that day.

Documents state Gefre admitted that he had stabbed someone; however, he told authorities that five or six men had been assaulting him and they had followed him to his tent.

One of the men hit him, and he grabbed a knife and swung it backward, court records continue. All of the men scattered, and he ran from the tent in panic. He said he wasn’t sure what happened to the knife.

The security guard at the park told authorities he saw five or six men chasing another man. A short time later, they came to the stage area, and he realized that someone had been stabbed, according to the court documents.

The guard said he found Gefre hiding in a bunch of trees. Gefre told him he was going to get beaten up by several men and that he had stabbed one of them and then ran.

Gefre’s second-degree assault charge carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a $14,000 fine. The third-degree assault charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The dates of the pre-trial and jury trial have not yet been set.