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American Morning
Youth Sports Murder Trial Resumes
Aired January 04, 2002 - 09:15 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: It's the trial that's putting the spotlight on kids, sports, and parents who get violent. The so-called hockey dad trial resumes this morning. Thomas Junta is accused of killing another dad at a youth hockey practice.
Our Michael Okwu is outside the courtroom in Cambridge, Massachusetts, covering that story for us.
Hi, Michael.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.
The first of 35 witnesses will testify this morning in what promises to be a highly emotional trial. Eleven children will appear, at some point, on the witness stand, including the sons of both the defendant and the victim.
Yesterday, the jury was taken to the scene of an incident, a hockey rink outside of Boston. What, essentially, they will have to decide is whether this was manslaughter or self-defense.
On July 5, 2000, Thomas Junta took his then-10-year-old son and two of his son's friends to a light hockey practice supervised by Michael Costin. Prosecutors say become enraged with Costin after the practice become rough. The two men exchanged blows before Junta, who outweighed Costin, by some 100 pounds, was asked to leave.
Prosecutors say he returned shortly after that, just moments after that, and beat Costin to death in front of the children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHEILA CALKINS, PROSECUTOR: He lunged at Mr. Costin, threw Mr. Costin to the floor, kneeled over or sat on Mr. Costin, and proceeded to punch him repeatedly to the left side of his head and neck area.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OKWU: Junta's lawyers says there are two sides to every story and that despite the great size difference between these two men, in this case, it was the victim who was the aggressor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) THOMAS ORLANDI, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You are going to will see Mr. Junta wind up with a 4-inch cut on his face. You are going to see Mr. Junta wind up with a circular scratch around his entire neck, because he is going to testify to you that the 160 pound man grabbed his necklace -- which you will see -- tried to choke him with it and ripped it off his neck, leaving -- as if you tied a rope around your neck and you had a rope burn.
You are also going to see his shirt on the left side of his body almost ripped off his body.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OKWU: Junta, who is an imposing figure in the courtroom, will testify at some point during the course of this trial on his own behalf. If the jury of three men and nine women are not convinced, he could spend the next 20 years behind bars -- Leon.
HARRIS: Michael, were there any family members at all there, or the children in this case, that showed up there in court yesterday? As we understand, they are going to be testifying.
OKWU: We haven't seen the children yet. They may very well have turned up this morning, but we have not seen them. We did not see them yesterday. But there are certainly family members. They are sitting about 25 feet away from each other. You can imagine that it is a highly emotional scene in that courtroom. There are some people who are between the two family members, but can certainly get a good look at each other -- Leon.
HARRIS: Interesting. It's got to be pretty tense there.
Michael Okwu, thank you very much.
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