Subject:  update on basketball brawl case |
Author:
Chris
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Date Posted: 03/25/05 5:30pm
Basketbrawl motions fly
Web-posted Mar 19, 2005
Lawyers attempt to disqualify Gorcyca, move trials out of Oakland
By STEPHEN FRYE
Of The Daily Oakland Press
The lawyers are putting in plenty of billable hours in the Pistons-Pacers basketbrawl case.
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On Friday, prosecutors responded to a variety of defense motions, including claims that Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca has a personal beef with alleged cup-thrower John Green, that there should be separate trials and that the cases should not be heard in Oakland County.
Defense attorney Shawn Patrick Smith, representing Green, said a dispute between then-neighbors Gorcyca and Green in Royal Oak should disqualify the prosecutor from leading the charges in the case. Ten people have been charged as a result of the Nov. 19 brawl at a Detroit Pistons game against the Indiana Pacers in The Palace of Auburn Hills.
But Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Paul Walton said, in his responding motion, that Green never sought to have Gorcyca disqualified in a 1997 drunken driving case - "at a time when this alleged 'personal history' supposedly existed."
That case was for a second-offense drunken driving charge.
Smith said Gorcyca accused Green of keying his Jeep Cherokee when they were neighbors. No police reports were filed, and Walton calls it an "unsupported allegation." Even if it were true, Walton said, it still would not be enough to warrant disqualifying a prosecutor.
In his response, Walton criticized the defense motion for containing an affidavit from Green that was unsigned, not notarized and which appeared to seek disqualification of 52nd-1st District Judge Dennis N. Powers, not Gorcyca.
When the sides appear before 52nd-3rd District Judge Lisa L. Asadoorian to argue their motions April 8, they will have to legally define "personal relationship" and "animosity."
All of the parties involved, except for accused chair-thrower Bryant Jackson, have been charged with assault and battery, a 93-day misdemeanor.
Geoffrey Fieger, representing fans John Ackerman Jr. and William Paulson, referred to last summer's NBA Finals Game 3 confrontation between fan Happy Asker, a Southfield resident, and the Lakers' now-retired Karl Malone - in which Gorcyca did not charge Malone with assault and battery after incidental contact between the two.
Fieger called it an unconstitutional, selective prosecution to not charge Malone for touching Asker or not charging Asker for spitting on Malone. He said liquid in the cups allegedly tossed by Ackerman and Paulson had been equated to spitting when the charges were filed.
Walton said there are differences in the cases.
"You don't have a constitutional right to start a fight," Walton said.
Other motions include the Pacers players - Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal, Anthony Johnson, Stephen Jackson and David Harrison - wanting separate trials and a random court assignment instead of combining the cases.
Walton said the defenses have shown why they should be separated.
As for Green wanting a change of venue because of intense media attention locally, nationally and internationally, Walton asked, "Where are we going to hold this trial? This was reported in France."
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