WILSON HAZING: Questioning of Seefeldt under scrutiny

Local News

January 11, 2009

BY BILL WOLCOTT The Niagara Gazette Sun Jan 11, 2009, 12:04 AM EST

WILSON — Those waiting to learn what happened on the Wilson baseball team’s bus ride to Wilson last April will have to wait longer, maybe forever.

A Huntley Hearing on Saturday in Wilson Town Court concerning the charges against Geoffrey A. Seefeldt, Colton Sherman and Christopher Sidote could not be completed after nearly five hours of inaction and snail’s pace proceedings Saturday. It will be continued at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 24.

A defense attorney for one of the three teens accused in the high-profile case sought to display state police investigators as overly anxious to interview his client without legal counsel or a parent present.

A Huntley Hearing is a separate proceeding in a criminal case to determine the admissibility of statements made by a defendant to police. In other words, could the statements attributed to Seefeldt by state police last spring during an interview a few days after the incident be used in a trial and were Seefeldt’s Miranda rights violated?

Investigators Craig Wing and Thomas E. Gibbons were questioned at length by Seefeldt’s defense attorney Mark Guglielmia after initial questioning by prosecutor Robert A. Zucco, the head of the Niagara County District Attorney’s Special Victims Unit. Seefeldt’s mother, Jennifer Seefeldt, also took the stand for the defense.

Seefeldt, Sherman and Sidote first faced charges of aggravated sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. Baseball coaches William Atlas and Thomas Baia were charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Police alleged the three teens, members of the Wilson varsity baseball team, had sexually abused members of the school’s junior varsity team in a hazing incident during a bus ride home from a game in Niagara Falls.

Town Justice George R. Berger presided and deftly handled a half-dozen objections. Mostly, the judge had to call for copies of documents for the lawyers in attendance. Attorney P. Andrew Vona of Lockport represented Sidote and Kelvin Shelby represented Sherman.

But proceedings never got far enough for the lawyers of Sherman and Sidote to be heard. Their turn will come in two weeks. Guglielmia wanted to know every step along the way that led to Geoffrey Seefeldt’s statement.

Vona and Kelvin Shelby are similarly expected to argue that the other two defendants, both 16 at the time of the incident, may have been coerced into giving statements to investigators without their attorneys present.

Contact reporter Bill Wolcott

at 439-9222, ext. 6246.

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