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American Morning

Thomas Junta Found Guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter

Aired January 14, 2002 - 07:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Now, onto the verdict of the so- called rink rage trial. Thomas Junta faces up to 20 years in prison, or he did before the verdict came in, in the beating death of Michael Costin. The jury on Friday found Junta guilty of involuntary manslaughter. That charges carries a sentence of three to six years on a crime far less serious than voluntary manslaughter. They deliberated for a total of 13 hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTHA COAKLEY, MIDDLESEX COUNTY, D.A.: I think we are very pleased with the jury's verdict tonight. You know, our goal from the beginning was to make sure that Thomas Junta was held accountable in some way for Michael Costin's death and this question of what's the state of mind is always a jury question. So I think the family was pleased, and I think we're pleased.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAFFERTY: Junta will be sentenced later this month. As I mentioned, three to six years in prison, the potential sentence on involuntary manslaughter.

Joining us now from Needham, Massachusetts, one of the jurors in that trial, Kevin McGrattan. And also from Hartford, Connecticut, Ira Kanfer. He is the state medical examiner, and he testified in the trial as a witness for the defense.

Let me begin, Kevin, with you. Are you satisfied with the verdict that you reached?

KEVIN MCGRATTAN, JUROR: I think it was a fair and just decision, based on the evidence and testimony that we heard. I think the jury collectively did an excellent job of weighing the testimony and going through the different scenarios in arriving at the right conclusion.

CAFFERTY: But there was some information that you didn't hear during the trial. It wasn't permitted to be introduced into evidence, and it had to do with victim's history. The victim in this case, Costin, had been sentenced to jail 10 different times for terms of 15 months or less on charges that included assault and battery, breaking and entering, receiving stolen property, assaulting a police officer, and breaking a restraining order, which had been taken out my wife, Linda Costin. Based on the history, this was a violent man. If you had known any of this, would it have made a difference?

MCGRATTAN: Now, that's impossible to answer at this, you know, at this point. I think one of the things we would have looked at is when did these events occur? I mean, clearly if something had occurred very recently, for instance the day before or the day of the incident, we would have put great weight on that. Had the incidents occurred in the distant past, then you know, without recurrence up until this point, then we probably would have put very little weight in that.

I think it would have enormously complicated the decision we had to make. And from that standpoint, from a strictly personal view, I'm glad we didn't have that information, because it would have made the decision that much harder.

CAFFERTY: That's an interesting observation. What was it like in jury room? Give us a sense of what the deliberations were about, general consensus, sense of agreement or a lot of disagreement. What was it like in there?

MCGRATTON: First of all, I just want to complement the entire group. I think everybody contributed to the decision. We went through the evidence, the testimony. We placed different weights on different things. And we spent a lot of time deconstructing the instructions, if you will. It was a complex set of charges. Going through them, separating out the wording and trying to figure out how the testimony fit into each individual charge was very challenging for us.

We had discussions. I don't think we jumped to any conclusions. I think rather than try to pick a charge and say, well, this one -- you know, is this the right one or is that the right one, we worked through it -- through the testimony and kind of arrived at -- saw where we were at the end when everyone was in general agreement. And then, kind of settled on the charge.

CAFFERTY: All right. Let me turn to Dr. Ira Kanfer. He is the state medical examiner in Connecticut. He testified as a defense witness. Dr. Kanfer, your reaction to the verdict based on the testimony?

IRA KANFER, DEFENSE WITNESS: Considering the evidence that was presented, as well as the conflicting stories, as well as the fact that the information about Michael Costin's past could not brought in, the defense considered an involuntary manslaughter a win.

CAFFERTY: You testified, among other things, that the size of these two men made no difference in the outcome of their fistfight. What did you mean by that?

KANFER: Well, the injury that caused Mr. Costin's death, which was a ruptured vertebral artery, can occur with minimal force, and is a very rare event. A 160-pound man would absolutely have no trouble with just a minor punch -- excuse me -- if it was reversed, a 160- pound man would have absolutely no trouble doing the same thing to Thomas Junta, who weighed about 100 pounds more. It is a minimal force one-blow injury, extremely rare. There was a case in Connecticut where a chiropractor manipulated a woman's neck. She ended up a quadriplegic. There was a case where, on (UNINTELLIGIBLE) table, the neck was just hyper-extended a bit too much. The woman ended up dead when they were putting in a bronchoscopy. Costin suffered minor injuries of a bruise here, an abrasion here. The hemorrhage in his neck -- basically what he had was a sprained neck, which is the same thing as getting a sprained ankle, the ligaments...

CAFFERTY: Right.

KANFER: ... pull and you get some hemorrhage. But of course...

CAFFERTY: It's a delicate area in other words, and the right kind of trauma in that particular area can be fatal.

KANFER: Right, even...

CAFFERTY: All right.

KANFER: ... though it's minor trauma.

CAFFERTY: All right. Gentlemen, we've got to move forward. I thank you both for joining us. Kevin McGrattan joining us, a member of the jury, and Dr. Ira Kanfer, the state medical examiner and the expert witness for the defense on the trial and conviction on charges of involuntary manslaughter of Thomas Junta.

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