Bertuzzi to meet with judge Wednesday
12/21/2004
VANCOUVER (CP with files from TSN.ca) - Hockey star Todd Bertuzzi has a date with a judge Wednesday and it appears the Crown and defence have reached agreement after extensive plea negotiations.
The Toronto Star is reporting that Bertuzzi's agent has confirmed his client will plead guilty to assaulting Steve Moore.
"A plea will be entered and submissions will be made with respect to that plea," Pat Morris told the Toronto Star. "We'll be changing the plea and hopefully, we'll leave with closure to the 10 month process."
But according to the Globe and Mail, Moore's lawyer is not happy with the change in court dates, making it impossible for his client to appear in person.
''It's completely unreasonable,'' Danson told the Globe and Mail. ''This really throws victims' rights back to the Stone Age.''
He said they will fight any attempt to sentence Bertuzzi before Moore can be present to address the court.
Someone close to the Moore family said they were outraged by the news.
"We're shocked, we're furious," the person told the Globe and Mail. "For a broken neck and permanent brain injury and maybe the end of a guys career, you get a kiss on the cheek and a Merry Christmas."
He said the family was informed of the plea late Monday afternoon.
Michael Mulligan, a Victoria-based criminal lawyer and media commentator, said it's possible Bertuzzi might plea to a lesser charge and then receive either a conditional or an absolute discharge.
Bertuzzi was scheduled to stand trial Jan. 17 for assault causing bodily harm for a punch that left Moore with a broken vertebrae and concusssion.
The NHL suspended Bertuzzi for the rest of the regular season, and the playoffs. He has not been re-instated by the NHL. The trial would have revived memories of another trial in 2000 in which former NHL tough guy Marty McSorley was charged with assault with a weapon after he struck former Canucks player Donald Brashear on the head.
McSorley went to trial, was found guilty and handed a conditional discharge.
Bertuzzi, 29, was charged June 24 after Moore suffered a concussion and broken neck during a game March 8 between the rival teams vying to capture the top spot in their division.
The incident occurred in the third period of Vancouver's 9-2 loss to Colorado Avalanche. Bertuzzi charged up the ice, grabbed Moore's sweater from behind, then slugged him with a round-house punch.
The two players fell, with the 245-pound Bertuzzi landing on top of Moore.
Besides breaking two vertebra in his neck, the 25-year-old native of Windsor, Ont., also sustained a concussion, facial lacerations and abrasions to the forehead, right cheek and upper lip.
Mulligan explained there are two types of discharges - absolute and conditional - and the latter may not be the ideal solution for Bertuzzi.
An absolute discharge is unusual and means the case is completed, said Mulligan.
But a conditional discharge carries conditions with it and is similar to being on parole.
"A conditional discharge has a period of probation and a person must complete a period of probation to get the discharge," he said.
As an NHL player, Bertuzzi must cross the border frequently, and that could be a problem, Mulligan suggested.
"Canada doesn't restrict a person from going somewhere. The issue is, will the other country allow the person in?"
Mulligan said the U.S. doesn't recognize a Canadian conditional discharge as any different from a probation.
So, with a conditional discharge, it would be up to U.S. authorities to decide whether Bertuzzi could cross the border to play NHL games in the U.S., he said.
The judge hearing the proceedings Wednesday, like the media and public in the courtroom, will be hearing the Crown and defence application for the first time.
Although the Crown and defence can reach an agreement on a plea arrangement and sentencing, the judge is not bound.
But it would be rare for a judge to reject the plea arrangement, said Mulligan.
"The judge has the final word. He is free to reject the joint submission and impose something else. but that's not common."
In October 2000, McSorley was found guilty Friday of assault with a weapon but was not required to spend any time in jail.
McSorley was given an 18-month conditional discharge. During that period, he was essentially on probation. At the end of it, he didn't have a criminal record and would not have difficulty crossing the Canada-U.S. border.
Provincial court Judge William Kitchen said in sentencing that McSorley had already paid a high price for the vicious hit witnessed by thousands of Vancouver fans.
In 1988, Dino Ciccarelli received a day in jail and a $1,000 fine after a stick-swinging incident in which he struck an Luke Richardson three times. Kitchen said the facts surrounding the Ciccarelli case were more serious although the consequences less so since Richardson was not injured. The NHL suspended McSorley for 23 games, the most severe penalty it had ever dished out prior to the Bertuzzi incident.
A Bertuzzi trial would be a media circus.
At the McSorley hearing, evidence came from McSorley, Brashear, on-ice officials, Canucks coach Marc Crawford, New York Rangers executive Glen Sather and others. Even Wayne Gretzky made a cameo appearance, not to testify but to sit in the courtroom in support of his friend and former on-ice protector McSorley.
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