NEW ORLEANS (WWLTV) - State Sen. Troy Brown will stand trial on May 13 in a simple battery case at Orleans Parish Criminal Court after entering a not-guilty plea Friday.

Brown, D-Napoleonville, is accused of punching in the face a woman police have dubbed his “side friend.”

Brown was not in Judge Laurie White's courtroom for his arraignment. His attorney, former state Sen. Ed Murray, entered the not-guilty plea on Brown’s behalf.

The alleged incident happened during a stay at the Hyatt Regency after the Bayou Classic, police have said.

Brown was originally booked on a municipal domestic battery charge.

The Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office recently moved the case to state court, charging Brown with a lesser charge of simple battery.

Brown initially said in a statement to WWL-TV that he couldn’t remember exactly what happened that night because he had brain damage from a 1991 car accident and he was consulting a neurosurgeon because he thought alcohol use was making his occasional memory loss worse.