Boston University ice hockey assistant captain John Sabo pleaded not guilty yesterday in Brighton District Court to three charges stemming from his alleged beating of School of Management senior Christopher Boccuzzi outside a Brighton bar last September.

Sabo, a Metropolitan College senior, was released on personal recognizance after pleading not guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon (his shod foot), assault and battery and threats to commit a crime.

The first charge, a felony, carries a possible maximum penalty of 10 years in state prison. The other two charges are misdemeanors with penalties ranging from a $100 fine to two and half years in a house of correction.

A fourth charge of mayhem, which entails “maliciously attempting to maim or disfugure” and would have carried a possible 20-year maximum penalty, was dismissed last week after a clerk magistrate found insufficient probable cause to support it.

In a separate closed hearing, the clerk magistrate found there was not probable cause to support Sabo’s counter-charge of assault and battery against Boccuzzi. Under Massachusetts law, any citizen can file a criminal complaint, but the complaint will only be issued if a clerk magistrate finds there is probable cause to support it.

According to Suffolk County District Attorney spokesman David Procopio, Sabo alleged Boccuzzi shoved him during the course of the Sept. 22, 2002 fight outside “The Avenue,” a bar on Harvard Avenue in Brighton.

Arguing that four of eight witnesses backed his client’s claim, Sabo’s attorney, David Eisenstadt, petitioned the judge during the arraignment to review the clerk magistrate’s decision. The judge declined, calling the Massachusetts statute that allows the accused to file complaints against victims “troubling” in cases like these.

In the course of the debate, Boccuzzi’s attorney, Phil Tracy, indicated that several of the witnesses testifying at the probable cause hearing contradicted earlier statements they had made to police.

Citing the fact that the charges against Sabo detail what he called “a fairly severe beating” from kicks to the head, Suffolk County assistant district attorney David Frank sought and received an order mandating Sabo “stay away”

Boccuzzi in lieu of bail.

Because Boccuzzi was not named as a defendant in the earlier hearing, the judge declined to issue a similar order against him.

Sabo, his parents and his attorney all refused to comment on the proceedings.

“I don’t litigate these things in the press,” Eisenstadt said.

Witnesses outside the courtroom were also unable to comment on their involvement in the case.

Tracy said he and his client were pleased with the outcome of the afternoon’s proceedings.

“This kid was kicked in the face — his eye was almost blasted from his head,” he said. “The system is working.”

But Tracy also indicated he believed BU officials were dragging their feet in investigating the incident, though he would not say whether he believed the charges should affect Sabo’s eligibility in the Hockey East playoffs just over a week from today.

“They should have been able to figure out what’s going on in this case,” he said. “Whether it is coddling an athlete or indifference,” Tracy said “other schools — BC, Harvard, Northeastern — would have taken a long look a this … If we got a fair assessment of this, someone would be saying some kind of penalty should be assessed here.”

Tracy said BU has been less than responsive to his requests for their investigative records, but he did not indicate specifically what measures he had taken to work with the university.

“There is no coddling here,” he said, referring to the courthouse.

BU spokesman Colin Riley said, “Boston University thoroughly and impartially investigates all student complaints equally.”

In a phone interview last week, BU Athletics Director Gary Strickler declined to comment specifically on any Sabo investigation and said the focus, details and potential consequences vary with the details of each case.

According to Strickler, neither BU nor the NCAA has any specific policy on student athletes charged with crimes.

Sabo’s next court date is a pre-trial hearing set for April 8, two days before the NCAA hockey semi-finals.

Procopio said the commonwealth and the defense would use the down time to begin the pre-trial discovery process, but he refused to speculate as to when the case might go to trial.

“Generally speaking,” he said, “it should be adjudicated by the end of the year.”