OAKLAND — Conflicting witness accounts about what occurred the night UC Berkeley student Christopher Wootton was stabbed to death might eventually prove no crime was committed, a defense attorney said Thursday.

Deputy Public Defender Tony Cheng, who will represent the man accused of murder, Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield, said a review of police reports and witness statements show that his client might not have committed a crime.

Although Cheng would not specifically say that Hoeft-Edenfield, 20, was engaged in self-defense, it would be the only reasonable explanation of how a crime was not committed the night Wootton, 21, was stabbed.

"There do appear to be a number of conflicting statements as to what happened that evening," Cheng said. "(We) will determine if there was in fact a crime committed."

Wootton was killed Saturday morning during a fight outside the Chi Omega sorority house in the 2400 block of Warring Street. Police said the fight was between at least 15 members of Wootton's Sigma Pi fraternity and one or two friends of Hoeft-Edenfield.

When police arrived at the scene, officers said they were met by a group of drunk and unruly men. Although police have said alcohol was involved in the fight, they have not said if there were parties at the sorority house or Wootton's nearby fraternity.

About 20 friends and family members of Hoeft-Edenfield once again packed the courtroom Thursday as the Berkeley City College

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student was brought in for a brief appearance. He was scheduled to enter a plea, but Cheng asked for a month-long delay so he could review more evidence related to the case.

Hoeft-Edenfield is scheduled to appear in court again June 12, when he may enter a plea.

Wootton was set to graduate this month at the top of his class. His friends described him as a talented student who once spent days calculating the correct dimensions to build a waterfall inside his basement.

He recently was offered a full scholarship to MIT and UC Santa Barbara but decided to stay in Berkeley to pursue a master's degree in engineering and be closer to his friends and family.