Serb sentenced in Binghamton beating freed

A former college basketball player from Serbia serving a two-year prison sentence in Belgrade for beating an American into a coma while at Binghamton University has been freed about two months early.

Miladin Kovacevic was sentenced by a Serb court for his attack on fellow student Bryan Steinhauer of Brooklyn in 2008 in a barroom brawl.

Kovacevic's early release Monday was part of a government amnesty that included more than 1,000 prisoners sentenced for lesser crimes.

After the brawl, Kovacevic jumped bail in New York and fled to Serbia, which refused to extradite him, angering Washington. The Serb government eventually paid $900,000 to Steinhauer's family as part of an agreement that also included putting Kovacevic on trial in Belgrade.

The Obama administration and Steinhauer's family both called Kovacevic's sentence too lenient.

-- AP