updated 7:50 p.m. ET Nov. 20, 2009

ROCKVILLE, Conn. - A man who allegedly was with the man charged with killing University of Connecticut football Jasper Howard, has pleaded not guilty to a conspiracy charge.

Twenty-year-old Hakim Muhammad entered the plea Friday in Rockville Superior Court on a charge of conspiracy to commit assault.

Prosecutors say Muhammad, of Bloomfield, Conn., and his friend and co-worker, 21-year-old John William Lomax III, were involved in a minor altercation with others outside a university sanctioned dance early Oct. 18.

The suspects allegedly went back to Lomax's car and returned with knives.

Prosecutors say several witnesses identified Lomax, also of Bloomfield, as the person who stabbed 20-year-old Howard of Miami.

Muhammad's attorney has said that while some witnesses claim his client had something in his hand that looked like a knife, no one has offered evidence that he swung it at anyone.

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