A Minnesota man is set to stand trial this month to answer to assault charges nearly a year after he called a Black man a racial slur at a bar, then punched him in the face and knocked him unconscious. Justin Kudla was charged with assault after a violent encounter with a Black bar patron at Huck’s Shipwreck Saloon in Belle Plaine on Feb. 3, 2024, according to a complaint filed in the Scott County District Court. Justin Kudla, 35, (left) faces federal hate crime charges for a racial attack against 37-year-old Benjamin Morelock (right) at a bar in Belle Plaine, Minnesota on Feb. 3, 2024. (Photos: Sherburne County Jail, GoFundMe) That night, a witness told authorities that she heard 35-year-old Kudla, who is white, call 37-year-old Benjamin Morelock a racial epithet, then saw him strike Morelock in the face. Surveillance video showed the 2 a.m. attack and Kudla leaving Morelock on the ground unconscious for 20 minutes. After Morelock regained consciousness, someone from the bar helped him home. The next day, a Huck’s employee went to Morelock’s home to check on him and found him in bed, going in and out of consciousness. Morelock went to the hospital where he had to be treated for a “life-threatening brain injury,” according to a GoFundMe page for Morelock’s medical expenses. He reportedly suffered a brain bleed, clot, and swelling. He was released from the hospital two days after being admitted. A bartender at an establishment not far from Huck’s told law enforcement that Kudla was “drunk and beyond” the night he struck Morelock. She said Kudla, who was allegedly bothered by Morelock’s sexuality, had been harassing Morelock a few weeks before the attack and called him a racial slur before. The bartender told police Morelock is “a wonderful person” and said his attacker is “very mean when he drinks.” Federal authorities recently charged Kudla with one count of interference with federally protected activities and one count of committing a hate crime for the attack. Both charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years each. State records revealed that Kudla has two convictions each for terroristic threats and stalking and one conviction each for a felony-level violation of a no-contact order and trespassing, the Minnesota Star Tribune reports. Kudla will be going to trial for the assault charge on Jan. 21. ‘Very Mean When He Drinks’: Minnesota Man Who Knocked Black Man Unconscious In Bar After Calling Him Racial Slur, Leaving Victim with Brain Bleed Faces Federal Hate Crime Charge