'Hockey dad' gets 6 to 10 years for fatal beating
January 25, 2002 Posted: 9:57 PM EST (0257 GMT)
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (CNN) -- A Massachusetts judge sentenced Thomas Junta to six to 10 years in state prison for the beating death of Michael Costin, 40, in a fight after a youth hockey practice in which the sons of both men participated.
A jury of nine women and three men found Junta guilty of involuntary manslaughter January 11, rejecting the more serious charge of manslaughter, which carries a 20-year maximum prison term.
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"I saw Thomas Junta beating my dad into the ground. For the rest of that day and for the next day, my heart was in my throat," said Michael Costin Jr. "Please teach Thomas Junta a lesson: Let the world know that a person can't do what Thomas Junta did to my dad, to my family and to me ... we all want Thomas Junta to go to prison for as long as your honor can put him there."
On July 5, 2000, Junta -- a 6-foot-1, 270-pound truck driver -- fought twice with Costin, who was 6 feet tall and weighed 156 pounds.
The second fight proved fatal for Costin. The two men had argued over what Junta described as rough play during hockey drills that both men's sons were participating in at the Burbank Ice Arena in Reading, Massachusetts.
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/01/25/hockey.death.verdict/