Hope Solo assault trial delayed after brief court appearance

The assault trial for soccer star Hope Solo has been delayed until early next year after her appearance in a Kirkland court Tuesday.

Solo, 33, is charged with fourth-degree assault for allegedly assaulting several family members at a Kirkland home while drunk.

A Kirkland Municipal Court judge ordered the trial to begin Jan. 14. The judge also agreed to let her lawyer depose her sister and nephew, the alleged victims in the case, KING 5’s Chris Daniels reports.

Her lawyer told the court the two had refused on-the-record interviews with defense attorneys.

Daniels reports new court documents reveal that prosecutors have discovered video of Solo’s jail booking and plan to call booking officers during her trial. It is unclear what exactly the video shows, but the jail officers have been subpoenaed to testify, along with arresting officers from the night in question.

Solo was arrested June 21 after police were sent to her sister’s home just before 1 a.m. following a 911 call reporting that she was hitting people and refusing to stop or leave.

Police reported they saw injuries on her nephew and her sister, and arrested Solo after determining that she was the primary aggressor.

She was booked into jail for investigation of two counts of fourth-degree domestic violence assault.

Court documents say responding officers heard shouting in the area and found Solo’s nephew had redness on one side of his face and was wearing a torn T-shirt. He also had a bleeding cut on the bottom of his left ear.

The affidavit of probable cause said the teen was crying and said, “We just let her back into our lives” and “(She) always does this.”

The teen said Solo came to the family gathering “upset about the fact that her husband refused to take her to catch a flight because he was being a jerk,” according to the documents. He told police Solo appeared to have already been drinking when she arrived and that Solo and his mother continued to drink wine after other relatives began leaving.

Solo reportedly insulted the teen, telling him he was “too fat and overweight and crazy to ever be an athlete.”

A fistfight followed and when the boy’s mother tried to intervene, Solo punched her in the face, the documents say.

The documents also say the teen broke a broom over Solo’s head and pointed an old BB gun at Solo to try to get her to leave, but she refused and kept “circling like a shark.”

Solo claimed the teen hit her with the broom after she insulted him.

Solo has continued playing for the U.S. national soccer team, despite her arrest, drawing criticism of the team and some of her sponsors for standing by her at the same time the NFL and its sponsors have taken a firm stand against Ray Rice and domestic abuse.

Solo apologized on Facebook following the arrest.

“I understand that, as a public figure, I am held to a higher standard of conduct,” she wrote. “I take seriously my responsibilities as a role model and sincerely apologize to everyone I have disappointed.”

“I love my family dearly,” Solo wrote. “We, like all families, have our challenges but my sincere hope is that we are able to resolve this situation as a family. Adversity has always made us stronger and I know this situation will be no different.”