GreekChat.com Forums - Hockey Dad Manslaughter Trial

Quote:

Originally posted by IowaHawkeye
the thing with Junta is that he has a history of violence:

- Junta's wife was granted a restraining order
against her husband in 1991 when she alleged he beat her continuously in front of their two children and another child. A
court ordered Junta out of the couple's Charlestown neighborhood apartment and gave his wife temporary custody of the children.

- In 1992, police arrested Junta on charges
he punched a Boston police officer and ripped a gold chain off his neck, according to court documents. Junta was not convicted -- the case was continued without a finding after he admitted to sufficient facts -- but a Boston Municipal Court judge
ordered him to pay the officer $250 in restitution.

So had he gotten the min. time - i would have been very disappointed in our legal system. There are certian people you make examples of - i think this is a case you do that with.

Nicky are your facts correct? You are saying that Junta has the same basic record as Costin (the dead man). I copied from the original post:

THE DEFENSE

Junta's lawyers, Thomas Orlandi Jr. and John O'Connor, will try to convince jurors that Costin was the aggressor in the fight and that their client was merely trying to defend himself.

The defense originally intended to attack Costin's character, but Middlesex Superior Court Judge Charles Grabau, who will preside over the trial, has ruled inadmissible much of the evidence that Costin was, at least at some point, a violent alcoholic with a long rap sheet and a troubled family.

Costin's own father, Augustine, was convicted of manslaughter for the 1976 stabbing of his elder son Dennis. As a young adult, Michael Costin ran afoul of the law and over the next dozen years, served seven different prison sentences for crimes ranging from assault on a police officer to breaking and entering.

At one point, Junta's lawyers said Augustine Costin had volunteered to testify for the defense that his son had a history of drug and alcohol abuse, had assaulted his former wife and children, and had extensive psychiatric problems that resulted in several hospitalizations and Social Security disability payments. The elder Costin denied offering to testify and accused the defense of exaggerations, but acknowledged that his son was a troubled person.

Costin was carrying several medications at the time of the beating, including drugs to treat anxiety, depression, insomnia and seizures.

Judge Grabau, however, ruled that the defense cannot tell the jury about Costin's mental history, nor the medications.

Without that evidence, the defense will rely heavily on the testimony of Junta himself. To back up his self-defense story, his lawyers can draw bruises and scrapes Junta sustained during the fight.

Also, in court papers, prosecutors backed up at least one part of Junta's account — that Costin took the first swing during the fatal fight. In his statement to detectives just a few hours after the altercation, he said that Costin was violent, tore his shirt and kicked him with