Kid Rock's Atlanta Trial Goes to Jury

A jury of 11 will deliberate the Kid Rock Waffle House fight case beginning Friday morning in Atlanta.

The Decatur man suing the musician said Kid Rock and his five co-defendants attacked him without warning during a fight nearly three years ago at a Buford Highway Waffle House.

Harlen Akins, 41, is the man who says he was punched and kicked repeatedly by the rocker's crew and feared for his life.

Kid Rock said his crew was in defense mode, portraying Akins as an eager agitator. "We didn't beat up [Akins]," the singer testified.

The musician stopped at the restaurant following an October 2007 performance at The Tabernacle in Atlanta. He pleaded guilty in March 2008 to a misdemeanor charge of simple battery.

Akins is seeking restitution of roughly $6,000 in medical costs plus an unspecified amount for pain and suffering. The former music promoter followed Kid Rock on the stand as testimony concluded in the three-day-long civil trial.

 "Independent eyewitnesses, not once, but twice said Kid Rock started the fight," the plaintiff's attorney said. "[Kid Rock] told you if someone insults him, he'll punch him. All you have to do is be in at the wrong place at the wrong time and say the wrong thing."