Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Hockey Dad Killer to Get Sentence

Aired January 25, 2002 - 09:05   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The sentencing of Thomas Junta is about to take place at a Cambridge, Massachusetts courtroom. Junta is the father convicted of the fatal beating of another father at their children's hockey practice. He is facing anywhere from probation to 20 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.

CNN's Bill Delaney is standing by outside of the courtroom to fill in on what's about to transpire behind him.

Good morning -- Bill.

BILL DELANEY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Paula.

After everything these two families have been through, they now find themselves feet apart from each other in a Middlesex middle superior courtroom behind me in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The family of Thomas Junta and the family of the man he killed, Michael Costin, now await the sentencing of Thomas Junta.

It was two weeks ago, Paula, that he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Involuntary manslaughter, the jury decided he didn't mean to kill, didn't intend to kill Michael Costin, but meant to commit assault and battery on him. This is a charge that the state sentencing guidelines recommend a three to five year prison sentence for, but the judge, Judge Charles Grabau, is given very wide discretion in sentencing here today. He could put Thomas Junta in jail for 20 years. He could also sentence him just to probation.

The judge will be weighing, basically, how violent the original incident was and whether Thomas Junta would be likely to commit that sort of violence again. Victim's impact statements from the Costin family will be presented in court. And critical to all this, Paula, as you mentioned at the top of the broadcast, whether information about Thomas Junta's past will be part of how the judge weighs his sentencing. In 1991, it's been revealed, Thomas Junta's wife, Michelle, took out a restraining order against him. About a year later, Thomas Junta was arrested for punching a Boston policemen, though he was not convicted of that charge. If the judge Charles Grabau weighs all that, that, of course, will affect the sentencing. But he doesn't have to weigh that, and that evidence was not brought into the original trial.

Now, defense attorney Thomas Orlandi throughout all this has repeatedly referred to this 6-foot, 1-inch, 275-pound man as a "gentle giant," a "barbecue dad." In the past couple of days, for the first time, the Junta family has been out publicly saying that Thomas Junta is a good father, a hard-working truck driver, the father of two.

Also in the courtroom, of course, will be the Costin family. In the wake of the verdict two weeks ago, they seemed to call for a degree of reconciliation, saying they had paid the ultimate price in all of this; they hope no other family has to.

Whatever happens here, Paula, an appeal is expected, Thomas Orlandi, defense attorney, indicating he will appeal whatever sentence there is, partly on the grounds that at the original trial, evidence about Michael Costin's alleged violent past was never introduced.

Back to you -- Paula.

ZAHN: Bill, you just made it very clear how wide the discretion is the judge will have this morning. Is there anything in a pattern in his previous sentencing that would help us better understand where he might go with this today?

DELANEY: Good question. Around the courtroom here, court hands say that judge Grabau is a judge who tends to stick to the sentencing guidelines. It is widely anticipated here that he will do that, that this will be a sentence somewhere in the range of three to five years, as the state recommends.

This is very widely publicized case, of course, even internationally whether that will affect the judge's decision or not, who knows?

Typically, in the past, he's a judge that stuck to the state sentencing guidelines pretty closely.

ZAHN: We'll be turning to you, Bill, when the decision comes down. Thanks for that update. Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com