|
The case against a man charged with assaulting a student during a brawl at a high school football game was dismissed Wednesday after a judge ruled that prosecutors did not meet a court-imposed deadline for turning over original evidence to the defense.
Judge Howard Maetani dismissed a misdemeanor assault charge against 19-year-old Williams Shawn Asiata, of West Valley City, at American Fork's 4th District Court. Asiata, a former Hunter High School football player, was accused by police and prosecutors of running onto the field and kicking an American Fork player during a brawl at American Fork High School in November.
Defense attorney Brett Anderson said American Fork city prosecutors violated an order from Maetani by not turning over the original copies of six videos that showed the brawl and did not provide the defense with the names and addresses of the people who made the recordings.
"It was the right decision to make, when you've got prosecution who absolutely refuses to provide evidence, despite two court orders to do so," Anderson said. "They claim that he ran out on the field and kicked ... a player in the head twice, and we did not see that on the videos, the copies of the videos that we were shown."
Anderson also questioned whether some of the videos had been edited to remove certain portions.
But prosecutor Kasey Wright said his office gave the defense everything it was required to give. Because most of the recordings were made with digital video cameras, then downloaded and transferred them to disc, police and prosecutors did not have the originals, Wright said. They also did not have the names of all the people who made the recordings, he said.
The prosecution only planned to use one video at trial, Wright said, so that was the only recording they needed to give to the defense. Wright said his office plans to appeal Maetani's decision.
"We complied with all of our duties under the law, we believe," Wright said. "This is nothing more than really a defense attorney playing an angle that's unrelated to the substance of the case."
The melee that led to the assault charge broke out with about two minutes left in American Fork's victory over Hunter in the 5A state quarterfinals in November. Both sidelines cleared and several people went onto the field from the stands. The brawl lasted about 10 minutes.
• Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
