Kevin Roper pleaded not guilty to killing a friend of Tracy Morgan in a 2016 car crash. Watch video
NEW BRUNSWICK -- Kevin Roper pleaded not guilty Monday afternoon to aggravated manslaughter and other charges in a crash that killed one man and critically injured comedian Tracy Morgan.
Roper's attorney, David Glassman, will in the coming weeks file a motion to dismiss the charges against his client. The most serious of the charges includes aggravated manslaughter in the death of James McNair.
The motion to dismiss the charges, before Superior Court Judge Michael Toto, will likely be heard in April.
Roper, 36, was employed by Wal-Mart at the time of the June 2014 crash in Cranbury on the New Jersey Turnpike.
He was indicted by a Middlesex County grand jury in December on the aggravated manslaughter charge, vehicular homicide and eight counts of aggravated assault. Those charges are more serious than those originally leveled against him by authorities.
Roper, who lives in Georgia, was driving a truck for Wal-Mart on June 7, 2014 when he allegedly crashed into a limousine van ferrying Morgan, Jimmy McNair and other friends of Morgan down the New Jersey Turnpike in Cranbury. McNair was killed in the crash; fellow comedians Ardie Fuqua, Harris Stanton and Morgan's assistant Jeff Millea were injured along with Morgan.
The indictment charges Roper with aggravated manslaughter for causing McNair's death. The other charges pertain to McNair, Morgan and the other victims.
Authorities said Roper failed to see slow-moving traffic ahead of his rig as he passed through Cranbury, slamming into the rear of Morgan's van and causing a chain reaction involving four other vehicles, including another tractor-trailer.
An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that Roper was speeding and had worked 13 hours straight before the crash.
A report by the New Jersey State Police indicated Roper had not slept for more than 25 hours before the accident.
Glassman, Roper's attorney, previously told Associated Press that the NTSB did not have all of the facts when it announced its findings.
Morgan and the others sued Wal-Mart. The company settled the suit for an undisclosed sum.
Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @susan_epstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.