Word: junta
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...plenty of dark thoughts, a Reading, Mass., truck driver was on trial last week for killing the adult supervising a kids' hockey scrimmage. Friday evening, after a six-day trial in which the defendant and his son both testified, a jury of nine women and three men convicted Thomas Junta, 44, of involuntary manslaughter, which could earn him up to 20 years in the state penalty box. The most likely sentence, to be announced at a hearing Jan. 25, is three to five years...
...pretty irony about the Reading incident is that it began as a pacifist plea. On July 5, 2000, Junta--whose stature (6 ft. 1 in.), girth (270 lbs.) and receding hairline ensure that James Gandolfini will play him in the inevitable TV movie--was watching an informal practice involving his son at the Burbank Ice Arena. He became so vexed at the violence he saw on the rink that he confronted the man who had volunteered as referee, Michael Costin (6 ft., 156 lbs.), for allowing it. Costin snapped back, "That's hockey." The two men scuffled, and Junta left...
Reading's hockey families see the Junta incident as an unfortunate encounter rather than the spawn of rink rage. "The vast majority of parents are doing this for the right reasons," says John Rattigan, a lawyer and father of three boys, all of whom play hockey at the Burbank arena. "We don't necessarily clap for the other side, but we try to be good sports." Rattigan, who does not know Junta or Costin, calls the fight "a very isolated, unusual, scary incident...
...right, for the Junta trial has weird contours all its own. It happens that the victim was not the first Costin to die violently. In the '70s, during a family argument, his brother Dennis was killed by their father Gus, who was convicted of manslaughter. Outside the Cambridge, Mass., courtroom on Friday, a few hours before the guilty verdict was read, Gus Costin approached Junta, put his hand on the man's shoulder and said, "I don't hate you. I forgive you." Junta answered, "Thank you," and the two killers of Costin boys shook hands in solemnity...
...this last step that has captured our imagination during the Junta trial. How many of us have choked back irrational anger, only to ruefully shake our heads later over what might have become something far worse? The news networks understand the tragic appeal of this story: These guys represent the worst in every overeager fan, every rabidly proud parent. No one wants to believe we could ever find ourselves in Junta's place - but it's the infinitesimal fear that it could happen to us that keeps us glued to our television sets...