McTucket
09-09-2006, 12:15 AM
Trial Time in T-Ball Case
Jury selection begins on Monday morning in Uniontown, Pa., in the case of a T-ball coach who is accused of offering money to his best player to injure a nine-year-old autistic teammate moments before a June 27, 2005 playoff game.
Mark Downs, 29, is accused of corruption of minors, reckless endangerment and solicitation to commit aggravated assault. According to testimony in an earlier court hearing, Downs told Keith Reese, then 8, that he would pay him $25 to throw hard at Harry Bowers, who suffers from both autism and apraxia.
"Mark told me to warm up with Harry," Keith testified in July 2005. "Mark told me that if I hit Harry in the face with the ball, he'd pay me $25 and then Harry would be out of the game." Keith in fact hit Harry in the face and the groin with throws, and Harry did not play in the game. Keith testified that Downs did not pay him.
Downs denies wrongdoing but has never offered any explanation of what happened. He and his attorney, Thomas W. Shaffer, turned down a prosecution offer of what is known in the Pennsylvania courts as a "general plea." Under the general plea, he would have admitted to the charges and hoped that the judge would show some leniency in the sentence in return for the admissions. The trial is expected to last for three days.
Jury selection begins on Monday morning in Uniontown, Pa., in the case of a T-ball coach who is accused of offering money to his best player to injure a nine-year-old autistic teammate moments before a June 27, 2005 playoff game.
Mark Downs, 29, is accused of corruption of minors, reckless endangerment and solicitation to commit aggravated assault. According to testimony in an earlier court hearing, Downs told Keith Reese, then 8, that he would pay him $25 to throw hard at Harry Bowers, who suffers from both autism and apraxia.
"Mark told me to warm up with Harry," Keith testified in July 2005. "Mark told me that if I hit Harry in the face with the ball, he'd pay me $25 and then Harry would be out of the game." Keith in fact hit Harry in the face and the groin with throws, and Harry did not play in the game. Keith testified that Downs did not pay him.
Downs denies wrongdoing but has never offered any explanation of what happened. He and his attorney, Thomas W. Shaffer, turned down a prosecution offer of what is known in the Pennsylvania courts as a "general plea." Under the general plea, he would have admitted to the charges and hoped that the judge would show some leniency in the sentence in return for the admissions. The trial is expected to last for three days.