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American Morning

Rink Manager Testifies in Junta Trial

Aired January 07, 2002 - 09:24   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 FINANCIAL ANCHOR: Outside Boston, not teenagers, but rather an adult charged with a horrible crime, an incident in which adults gave kids a tragic example of behavior that they hope the children will never repeat. Two men got into a fight, in front of their children, during a hockey practice. One father died, the other one is on trial for murder.

CNN's Michael Okwu joins us now from Cambridge, Massachusetts where (ph) that trial resumes today -- Mike, nice to see you. What's the latest?

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jack, good morning. More this morning from prosecution witnesses. Specifically, more from Nancy Marchand (ph), who was the assistant -- Blanchard, I should say, Nancy Blanchard -- she was the assistant manager at the hockey rink where this fateful fight occurred in the Summer of 2000.

Now, on Friday, she appeared to contradict defense claims that Thomas Junta acted in self-defense against the victim in this case, Michael Costin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY BLANCHARD, HOCKEY RINK MANAGER: Mr. Costin and Mr. Junta were pushing each other. Mr. Costin's back was against the wall that's in that alcove between locker room one and locker room two. Mr. Junta was facing (ph) him, and Mr. Costin was down, almost like sliding down, against the wall. He was almost sitting on the floor, and they were just -- they holding onto each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OKWU: Now, she is expected to testify today that after that initial scuffle between the two men was broken up, Junta rushed back onto the rink, and at one point even pushing her aside, to continue beating on Costin. Costin, of course, died from that beating. On Friday, the man responsible for conducting the autopsy on Costin, a Dr. Stanton Kessler, testified that Costin died when an artery at the base of his brain was ruptured by an intense blow.

Now, the defense claims that Junta hit Costin only three times, in retaliation. Prosecutors say Junta, who outweighed Costin by almost 100 pounds, hit him repeatedly on the left side of his face and neck, about 10 to 20 times. Now Jack, 11 children are scheduled -- are expected to testify during the course of this trial, including the sons of both of these two men. We also expect that Thomas Junta, the defendant in this case, will also testify on his own behalf, and we understand that the prosecution will rest its side of its case at some point tomorrow -- Jack.

CAFFERTY: Michael, thank you. Michael Okwu live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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