Wilson coaches’ charges dismissed
DA drops case related to hazing on team bus
WILSON — After 15 months and more than $200,000 of taxpayers’ money, the criminal case against two Wilson High School baseball coaches came to naught Monday.
Instead of beginning to select a jury, Niagara County Assistant District Attorney Robert A. Zucco moved to dismiss the charges against suspended coaches William M. Atlas and Thomas J. Baia.
Zucco offered no explanation for the decision. He and defense attorneys said they did not want to comment while Town Justice George R. Berger is still considering his verdict in the trial of two former players who were charged with roughing up some of their teammates on the team bus April 17, 2008, as it headed home from a game in Niagara Falls.
“It’s been a tough time for our families,” Baia said in a brief conversation with a reporter in the courtroom.
The coaches plan to say more Wednesday during a news conference at Baia’s house.
In announcing the news conference, their spokesman, Mike Paul, said, “The truth has finally set them free, but they both believe transparency and accountability still must prevail for this rush to judgment by law enforcement based on rumors, lies and innuendo to never happen again to any teacher, coach or citizen in New York State.”
The coaches were to have been tried on misdemeanor charges of child endangerment, which upon conviction could have carried penalties of up to a year in jail. They were accused of endangering the complaining players by not stopping the older players from hazing them.
According to a summary of players’ statements made available to The Buffalo News, the varsity players crowded the aisle during the incident to keep the coaches from seeing what was happening.
At first, three varsity players were charged with felony counts of aggravated sexual abuse. The district attorney’s office eventually dropped those charges and replaced them with misdemeanors of forcible touching and hazing.
One player, now 19, pleaded guilty June 9 to child endangerment and is awaiting sentencing. The other two, now 17, went through a four-day nonjury trial that ended Wednesday.
The State Police is conducting an internal investigation of how the case was handled.
“The investigation is still ongoing,” said Sgt. Kern Swoboda of the State Police public affairs office in Albany.
There was a private meeting Thursday between District Attorney Michael J. Violante and the coaches’ attorneys, Herbert L. Greenman and Robert Viola.
“Seeing how the evidence came in at our trial might have influenced their decision [to seek dismissal],” P. Andrew Vona, an attorney for one of the players, speculated about the prosecution’s thinking.
Absence of subpoenas
But another source close to the case said the prosecution might have decided weeks ago to abandon the case against the coaches. The source said witnesses who expected to testify at the Baia-Atlas trial were wondering why they never received subpoenas.
Asked why the prosecution gave up now instead of months ago, Viola said, “Let’s just say a case matures.”
Greenman gave credit to private investigators from Peter M. Vito&Associates, a Buffalo firm hired by the defense.
“They deserve all the credit in the world,” Greenman said, singling out Patricia A. Hensley, the firm’s chief operating officer. “Their work put Bob and me in a position to understand the case. It gave Bob and me a really strong perspective.”
“We had awesome representation,” Baia said.
At 9 a. m. Monday, Zucco rose in the Town Hall courtroom and told Berger, “It is the people’s intention not to go forward with this prosecution.”
“Obviously, we have no objection,” Greenman said.
Berger dismissed the case to the loud applause of about 20 family members and other supporters of the coaches.
“Given that the other charge [against the players] is still under consideration by the judge, we’re not going to comment at all,” Zucco said.
“It’s obviously the right decision,” Greenman added.
Violante was out of the office sick Monday and unavailable to comment.
Suspended with pay
Wilson School Superintendent Michael S. Wendt met with Baia and Atlas in his office after the court session. The Board of Education will meet next week, he said, and it is expected to vote on reinstating them to their jobs. Both have been suspended with pay since they were arrested.
“I’m sure the board will make a decision based on the new information that was made public [Monday],” Wendt said. “We will work within the guidelines and procedures to regularly and fully correct the present situation.”
School Board President Timothy F. Kropp said the coaches were suspended on advice of the school’s attorneys.
It was done as a “precautionary measure,” Kropp said, and no hearings were held before the suspensions were imposed.
Wendt said Baia, a sixth-grade math teacher at Wilson Middle School, earns about $86,000 a year and has been with the district since 1990. Atlas, a physical-education teacher at Thomas Marks Elementary School, has been working in Wilson since 2000 and earns about $48,000 a year.
Wendt said the reinstatement is likely to include coaching the baseball team as well as performing their regular teaching duties.
The $200,000-plus cost of the case to Wilson taxpayers does not include the coaches’ pay, Wendt said, but it does include salaries of about $35,000 each for two long-term substitutes to take their places, as well as legal fees for Greenman and Viola.
Under the contract with the teachers union, the district had to absorb the cost of defending Atlas and Baia.
More legal costs are coming, as Terrence M. Connors, the attorney hired by the parents of a junior varsity baseball player who said he was abused on the bus ride, reiterated Monday that he will be suing the district by the end of this month.
History of hazing
“Our case was never dependent on the criminal case against the coaches,” Connors said. “Our focus is to stop practices that should have stopped a long time ago.”
Zucco argued in a motion made available to The News that there was a history of hazing on the Wilson baseball team, dating back several seasons, in which older players would strike younger, smaller players.
One of the players who said he was a past victim was one of those tried as a perpetrator last week, according to statements Zucco unsuccessfully sought to use as trial evidence.
Connors said his argument remains the same: “Those who were charged with the responsibility of protecting those kids failed in their responsibility, and that’s from the top down.”
News Niagara Reporter Aaron Besecker contributed to this report. tprohaska@buffnews.com
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