One of sports’ most reassuring assumptions is on trial.
It’s the assumption that says when you enter the arena of competition, you walk into a stand-alone world in which the only people laying down the law are referees and sports administrators.
But Monday in Lake County Juvenile Court, a Glenbrook North High School youth faces two counts of aggravated battery for his actions in a Nov. 3 junior-varsity hockey game in Gurnee. He was 15 years old.
So was former New Trier hockey player Neal Goss when the Glenbrook North athlete delivered a cross-check from behind. The blow sent Goss crashing headfirst into the boards and left him paralyzed from the chest down.
The Lake County state’s attorney’s office stunned officials on both teams by charging the Glenbrook North player with one count alleging great bodily harm and another alleging the use of a deadly weapon, a hockey stick.
A plea agreement is expected to be announced when the parties meet Monday in Lake County Circuit Judge John Radosevich’s courtroom, sources said Saturday. The youth is expected to plead the equivalent of no contest to simple battery and receive probation and public service, because he has not been in legal trouble before, one source said.
The maximum penalty the Glenbrook North youth would have faced if found guilty of both charges was detention in a juvenile facility until he is 21. But that was unlikely because prosecutors had indicated they would likely recommend a similar sentence if he had been found guilty.
“He’s a 15-year-old kid who in the worst-case scenario made a bad split-second decision that resulted in this terrible injury,” Lake County State’s Atty. Michael Waller said last week. “No one believes he intended to permanently injure [Goss], but something happened.”
Waller would not comment Saturday on whether a plea agreement had been reached.
The Goss incident and its aftermath will resonate in the sports and legal worlds because of its possible impact not only on youth hockey but also on contact sports in general. Many parents have no doubt been keeping a wary eye on the proceedings.
Some sports administrators have feared a determination of guilt for a teenager’s game-related action, if not the trial itself, could affect contact sports.
“There has been a lot of talk about what possibly could happen,” said Dave Shapiro, president of the Metro North Hockey League, which includes Glenbrook North and New Trier. “I think a lot of parents would keep kids out of it for fear anything they do could make them subject to criminal charges. Who’s to determine if it’s part of the game or not?”
In the Goss case, Waller and his staff made the call to put the criminal justice system on ice, though he doubts that decision will have a chilling effect on sports.
He said three factors pushed the Goss incident beyond acceptable sports boundaries and into the criminal arena:
– The cross-check took place seconds after the game had ended.
– There was what he termed a deliberate intent to injure.
– The severity of Goss’ injury.
“It’s not like we were going out trying to discourage people from playing hockey or playing aggressively,” Waller said. “It’s just these circumstances in totality led to the decision we made.”
That set the stage for a trial under a spotlight uncommonly bright for a juvenile battery case. In response to public and media interest, Monday’s proceedings will be in the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan rather than in the more cramped juvenile court facilities.
Jeff Steinback, a criminal defense attorney who works mostly in the federal court system, said he would represent the defendant, whose name has been withheld by authorities, because he knows the boy’s family and lives and coaches soccer in Northbrook.
Assistant State’s Atty. George Strickland heads the prosecution team. Strickland is chief of the criminal division and does not normally handle juvenile cases.
“But it’s pretty obvious this is not your typical juvenile court case,” Waller said.
Only a handful of athletes have faced criminal charges for actions against opponents during competition. Prosecution of high school athletes for such acts is especially rare, and incarceration almost unheard of.
South San Antonio basketball player Tony Limon became the exception, spending about three months in jail this year after pleading no contest to an aggravated assault charge. Limon threw an elbow into an opponent’s face during a 1999 game. The opponent sustained a broken nose and a concussion and underwent surgery.
Because Limon did not contest the charges, the case never reached a judge’s or jury’s deliberations. He received a five-year prison sentence in February, partly because he was on probation for a non-sports offense. Limon was released in May under house arrest pending appeal.
Goss and his father, Robert, have filed a civil suit in Cook County Circuit Court against the Glenbrook North player, North coach Adam Young, the Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois, the Illinois Hockey Officials Association and the Northbrook Hockey League, which sponsors the Glenbrook North team. The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages of more than $50,000 from each defendant.
Karl Lutz, former president of the New Trier hockey club, believes these civil suits are more likely to have a chilling effect on sports than are criminal cases because the burden of proof is lower in a civil case–a preponderance of the evidence versus proof beyond a reasonable doubt. He also believes charging the Glenbrook North player was a mistake.
“He intended to knock Neal down,” Lutz said. “He might even have wanted to knock him down and hurt him. … I think that happens in sports every day.
“But if that’s a criminal charge, every time there’s a late hit in football then someone faces criminal charges.”
Waller said his office was extremely unlikely to bring charges for an on-field action that took place before the end of a game. He said the timing of the cross-check is crucial to the prosecution’s case because it helps show intent.
“I don’t think we’d look twice if this happened during a sporting event,” he said.
But he did not completely rule out, for example, charging a football player who seriously injured an opponent by tackling him well after a whistle had ended a play.
“I suppose you could say it was in the course of a game, so based on factors we took into account making [the Goss] decision we wouldn’t [prosecute], but it’s hard to tell,” Waller said. “We’d have to look at it.
“But it would be an important factor that it was during a game even if it was an outrageous act.”
The defendant pleaded not guilty to both aggravated battery counts Jan. 5. Steinback declined to discuss details of the case, but indicated that in a trial he might dispute the prosecution’s contention that the defendant struck Goss after the game ended.New Jersey attorney Mel Narol believes it shouldn’t matter whether the defendant struck Goss at or just after game’s end. Narol, a sports law authority, said virtually all on-field acts between players should be handled by sports administrators or through civil litigation.
“These things do not appropriately belong in a criminal court, with the only exception being shooting or stabbing someone,” Narol said. “If something had happened, say, half an hour after the game in the dressing room, I’d say yes, criminality should apply.”
Unlike most high school sports, ice hockey is not conducted under the auspices of the Illinois High School Association; it is run by the Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois. Most teams are club squads not sanctioned by the schools whose names they use.
Spokesman Jim Smith said AHAI has procedures to respond to on-ice infractions. The Glenbrook North player received a match penalty with an automatic 30-day suspension and still faces a hearing regarding possible further penalties.
“We feel it’s unfortunate criminal charges and civil charges are part of any amateur sports event no matter what the sport is because it does change amateur sports in this country and what it’s all about,” Smith said.
Longtime NHL player Ed Olczyk, whose 11- and 9-year-old sons play in a Rolling Meadows program, believes the Goss case already is affecting youth hockey.
“Oh, it’s [having] an impact, without a doubt, and the longer and farther it goes, it will have a major impact,” Olczyk said. “More parents say they are talking to their kids and realize these are the rules and play hard and fair and see what happens. Hopefully something good can come out of this.
“You can still play hard and physical.”
IHSA Associate Executive Director Marty Hickman doubts the incident will curb participation in contact sports. He also believes it could have a positive effect.”It may cause schools and coaches to spend more time warning kids about rough tactics,” Hickman said.
