CHRISTIANSBURG - A judge on Monday convicted a former Hokie football player of attacking two men trying to order food at the Blacksburg McDonald's - even though the athlete said he was with his girlfriend on the other side of campus when the incident occurred.

Circuit Judge Ray Grubbs suspended a 30-day jail sentence and instead ordered Michael Hinton, 20, a rover dismissed from the Virginia Tech team in the wake of his arrest, to pay the medical bills of the two victims. Grubbs said the victims and two friends had been unwavering in their identification of Hinton as their attacker, who they first identified by name from a photo on the Tech Web site hokiesports.com hours after the incident.

The altercation started about 2 a.m. April 11 at the McDonald's restaurant near campus when a man later identified as Hinton cut in front of four friends waiting to order. A brief exchange of words followed before the man stepped away from the counter, all four testified.

Minutes later, the man reappeared and swung from behind at Tech student Ahmed al-Nahawi, knocking him unconscious. Kenan al-Husseini, who graduated from Tech in June, testified that he chased the man out of the restaurant and onto campus near the university's power plant. Another fight broke out, and al-Husseini testified that he was struck hard enough to injure his eye and damage two teeth.

All four testified they had time to study the attacker's face as the incident unfolded.

"This was not a dark alleyway," Montgomery County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Rhodes told the judge. "This was not a situation where someone was in a convenience store with a mask on. This was a well-lit, public place."

Defense attorney Fred Kellerman argued that the four men made an assumption that their attacker, whom they described to police as a black man wearing a dark-colored jersey and metal caps on his teeth, was an athlete and plucked Hinton from small mugshots on the Web.

"The focus was narrowed so dramatically," Kellerman argued. "All of the sudden 'black male' and 'fight' equals 'football player.'"

Hinton maintained that he spent the evening at a fraternity party at the Squires Student Center and then met his girlfriend, Addeline Theil. Theil testified that she was with Hinton in Cochran Hall from 1:30 a.m. to 3 a.m.

After his conviction, Hinton walked up to al-Husseini, offered his hand and said, "I'm sorry for what happened to you."

Hinton was dismissed from the football team without comment several days after his arrest. The backup rover from Burlington, N.C., had been one of the most highly regarded players in Tech's 2003 recruiting class.

But his arrest was his second strike. He was suspended from the team between December and February for an unspecified violation of team rules. He was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery in September 2003 and found not guilty in court in December. Hinton underwent counseling for anger management during his two-month suspension period.