MADISONVILLE, Tenn. - A judge today declined to grant a new trial to Danny Adams, who was convicted of assault for trying to knock down a man holding a gun on his friend in 2009.

In September, a Monroe County jury found Adams guilty of misdemeanor assault for hitting Joshua Anderson, who was holding a gun on Adams' friend Vince Cole.

The fight at the Hidden Lake Campground in Tellico Plains, Tenn., in July 2009 ended with Anderson fatally shooting Cole and wounding Adams.

Anderson was never charged with the shootings. Instead, prosecutors blamed Adams for provoking the confrontation.

He was charged with criminally negligent homicide in Cole's death and aggravated assault against Anderson. The jury found him innocent on the homicide charge and reduced the assault charge from a felony to a misdemeanor.

The ruling by Criminal Court Judge Carroll Ross means the case will be appealed to a three-judge panel of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, said Adams' public defender, Jeanne Wiggins.

Since the trial last year, Cole's family has pushed the 10th Judicial District Attorney General's office to charge Anderson in the two shootings, but without result.

For complete coverage, see Tuesday's Times Free Press.