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Friday, September 18, 2009

Courts - "David Jason Stinson found not guilty in football player’s death:

The ILB has had a number of entries, under the heading "You don’t see newspapers fighting to open court proceedings the way they used to, and people are starting to notice," the most recent dated Sept. 4th. The entries were about the then-ongoing trial of former Pleasure Ridge Park football coach Jason Stinson, "charged with reckless homicide and wanton endangerment in the heat-stroke death of PRP sophomore lineman Max Gilpin after he collapsed at an Aug. 20, 2008, practice." The Louisville Courier Courier successfully opening up the proceedings to the publc and press.

As for the progress of the trial itself, Jason Riley reported yesterday in the LCJ:

A Jefferson County jury has acquitted former Pleasure Ridge Park High School football coach Jason Stinson on charges of reckless homicide and wanton endangerment in the death of a player in 2008.

The jury reached the verdict approximately 90 minutes after beginning deliberations in the case of sophomore lineman Max Gilpin’s death from heat stroke.

In a companion story, by Andrew Wolfson and Jody Demling report:
Despite his acquittal, Jason Stinson’s prosecution sent a strong message across the country that coaches must err on the side of caution when working players on hot summer days, state and national experts and coaches said Thursday.

They also said Stinson’s trial in the death of a 15-year-old player from heat stroke may spur the movement to require certified athletic trainers at high school sporting events, and to require ice pools on sidelines during games and practices in extremely hot weather.

“The thing with the coaching profession is that you have to realize you have to take every precaution,” said longtime St. Xavier High School coach Mike Glaser. “You can’t chance it with the young people you are entrusted with.”

But Glaser said a guilty verdict would have “put so much pressure on coaches. It would have made (some) scared about coaching in general.”

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 18, 2009 09:52 AM
Posted to Courts in general