Lawyers in hockey practice death trial offer two different scenarios for deadly fight

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Posted 8:43AM on Friday, January 4, 2002

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Two starkly different scenarios emerged of how an argument between two fathers after a youth hockey practice escalated into a fight, leading to one man's death. Lawyers for Thomas Junta, 42, who is on trial on a manslaughter charge in Michael Costin's death, said in opening statements Thursday that Junta was defending himself after Costin threw a "sucker punch." Prosecutors said Junta was the aggressor, pounding Costin's head on the floor until he lost consciousness. Costin died the day after the fight at their sons' hockey practice at the Burbank Ice Arena in Reading, a suburb north of Boston. Junta's trial was scheduled to resume Friday in a case that has focused a national spotlight on the issue of parental violence at youth sports. During opening statements, prosecutors said Junta, a 6-foot-1, 270-pound truck driver, used his size to overpower the 160-pound Costin. The defense claimed that Costin, who stood 6-foot-3 in his hockey skates, thrust his chest into Junta, tried to choke him, and slashed Junta's sneakers and shins with his hockey skates. Defense attorney Thomas Orlandi Jr. said the dispute began when Junta was angered by "hitting, fighting, slashing" during his 10-year-old son's practice, which usually is noncontact. Junta asked Costin to control the violence, Orlandi said. After the practice ended, a player threw an elbow at the head of Junta's son, and the boy left the ice in tears, Orlandi said. Both sides agreed that Junta argued with Costin, left the rink with his son and returned, and that a second altercation then broke out. The defense says Costin punched Junta when he walked back into the rink, then jumped on him. The two men rolled to the ground, with Junta landing several punches. In the fracas, Costin hit his head, Orlandi said. Prosecutors say the assistant rink manager saw Junta lunge at Costin, kneel over him and punch him over and over. "Some of the witnesses will tell you they saw Mr. Costin attempting to avoid the blows by turning his head to the right but that the blows continued to hit him," said prosecutor Sheila Calkins. "Michael Costin never got up." Eleven children who saw the fight on July 5, 2000, are on the prosecutor's list of potential witnesses. The children, ages 11 to 15, include the two men's sons.