Concerned Parents, a loosely organized group of residents formed in response to the Wilson hazing incident, are awaiting the decision before the town court on charges against two 17-year-old high school students.
The group is angry charges against the Wilson baseball coaches Tom Baia and William Atlas were dismissed Monday, feeling that much evidence regarding the incident on the team bus on April 17, 2008 was thrown out because of technicalities, according Bob Martin, a spokesman for the group.
“Parents were just sitting back, waiting for evidence to come out. The evidence did not come out,” he said. “All we were looking for was accountability. We wanted to see the right thing done.”
Colton Sherman and Christopher Sidote, whose charges were reduced, were suspended from school after their arrests, but those suspensions were lifted during the first week of December following an administrative hearing.
Martin followed the case while working on the West Coast on business for three months. He spoke to a victim’s mother and learned the boy was on the witness stand and interrogated for three hours during a closed court session.
Andrew Vona, who represents one of the accused boys, said he was not looking at the clock during cross-examination. The Lockport attorney also took exception to the word victim. “Victim of what?” Vona asked. “Horseplay on a bus?”
According to Vona, 10 witnesses of the alleged incident took the stand. “All those kids got to testify to what they observed,” he said.
Vona also disputed a parent’s report that none of the victims stories have ever wavered or changed.
“I’m a little frustrated,” Martin said. “It’s bad for the kids that were beat up. Justice was not served. Now these kids have a stamp on them and nasty things being said.”
Judge Berger’s decision on the boys’ case is expected soon, Vona said.
Courts
HAZING CASE: Wilson group unhappy with dismissals
- Courts
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Hayes sentence delayed in homicide case
Wilbert Hayes III was behind bars on Monday but not to begin serving his sentence for the slaying of Donald Tyree Nix.
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In Lockport, Man faces extradition in Vegas fraud
A former Las Vegas resident picked up at the U.S.-Canadian border on Nevada securities fraud charges was ordered held for extradition from New York on Monday, after a judge rejected his claim of diplomatic immunity.
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Another Mehta defendant gets probation
A Sanborn woman has escaped a jail term after her guilty plea to a federal drug charge.
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Another deal made in Mehta case
A Falls man will spend a year on federal probation for his guilty plea in a wide-ranging probe of prescription drug abuse centered around former Falls physician Pravin Mehta.
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Mehta defendant gets “time served”
A Falls resident caught up in a joint federal and local law enforcement investigation into prescription drug trafficking, involving former Falls physician Pravin Mehta, will not have to spend more time behind bars.
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NU player gets dismissal in sex abuse case
A Niagara University basketball player, arrested in a sexual abuse related case has had that charge dismissed.
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Case adjourned for Wilson teachers accused of having sex at Bills game
Two Wilson School District teachers charged with public lewdness had their case adjourned this week for a possible dismissal.
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Drug mule pleads guilty in federal court
A man who ferried marijuana from a Canadian Indian Reservation to the Falls has cut a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
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Gross prepared for prison term
A host of the Niagara Region’s famous and infamous are asking a federal judge to give Falls contractor and convicted felon John Gross a break later today.
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Hayes opts for plea in stabbing death
For Wilbert Hayes III, going to trial was just too much of a risk.
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