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From 3e6r.net Latest News Headlines Tavern parking lot dilemma: Horseplay or felony offense?
LEWISTOWN - Two Canton men found out Thursday they face jury trials on felony charges for what they say was just good-natured horseplay. "We've never been mad at each other once," David Courtney said of himself and friend Jim Holt. They have known each other for several years and say they have often engaged in horseplay. But both men face possible prison time for wrestling with each other outside a Canton bar on June 6. "It was all in fun - laughing," said Holt. The two say they had no idea their fun would lead to charges of aggravated battery, a Class 3 felony. Fulton County Assistant State's Attorney Bill Loeffel said the men likely would not have been charged that way if they had been having a wrestling match at home. "The difference is when you you're conducting these activities on public streets," Loeffel said. "Is (fighting) what you want to see when you go down to the square in Canton?" Holt said that on June 6, he and Courtney were working at Railworks in Manito on construction of a railroad track. After work, they decided to have a beer that evening at the White Oak Tavern. They had both had a few beers, Holt said, when they began wrestling in the parking lot. A Canton police officer who was driving past stopped and ticketed both men on disorderly conduct charges. They continued wrestling, Holt said, and he fell to the ground, injuring his face. "It was an accident," Holt said. He went to the hospital and found out his face was only bruised. Courtney said he thought that was the end of it - until he got a letter in the mail a week later. It identified him as a victim and said there was a warrant out for Holt's arrest. Courtney was stunned and told his friend immediately. "I was like, 'Hey man, they've got a warrant out for you,'-" Courtney said. "He said, 'They've got one out for you, too.'-" Holt said he got the same victim's letter about Courtney. Courtney said he was confused about why police or the state's attorney's office never told him about the warrants. Both men paid bond immediately - $750 for Courtney and $150 for Holt. Both said they told the state's attorney's office they were just playing and did not want to press charges against each other. They even signed affadavists saying so. Holt said he thinks both probably are guilty of disorderly conduct but not a felony. Loeffel said they had a chance to stop wrestling when they got the disorderly conduct tickets, but did not. Courtney said the state's attorney's office offered him a plea bargain of 90 days in jail, 2½ years of probabtion and provision of a DNA sample to the state. "We're going to court," he said. "I'll let 12 of my peers judge me." © Copyright 2000 by www.3e6r.net |