So What Should Happen To This Punk?

Yes, the guy who assault the Utah Soccer Ref that resulted in the Ref's death was Hispanic. His name: Jose Domingo Teran. No word if he was a DREAMER or not. But the fact that his mother addressed the refs family in court in Spanish makes me wonder.

Later, the teen's mother issued a tearful apology to the Portillos in Spanish, saying her son never had any trouble and was a good child until this incident.
The ref had been attacked before:

His oldest daughter, Johana Portillo, said he had been attacked before by players, even having his legs and ribs broken.
Five years ago, a player upset with a call broke his ribs. A few years before that, a player broke his leg, she said. Other referees have been hurt, too.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...r-referee.html

another article for those who don't accept the dailymail

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8...ee.html?pg=all
fragtasticator's Avatar
This is clearly a terrible, terrible incident.

A man is dead at the hands of a boy.

Legally, the child killed the man by striking him with his fist. A lot of people would guess this to be a straight up murder, but based on what I learned when I went for jury duty, there are many things to consider when trying to get a successful conviction, including intent, and whether the conduct performed could be reasonably expected to result in what occurred.

No one can reasonably assume that a single punch from a teenager to a man would kill the man. There is just no way that you could get that past a jury of 12, not when you factor in the burden of proof 'beyond a reasonable doubt'.

So now you have to think about a lesser charge - clearly the boy was intending to harm the man - hence the punch - but intending to kill him? That would be very difficult to prove.

Assault would be easy to get - Aggravated assault possibly, if there was serious injury, or the guy was a senior citizen. These charges, I think though, are too low to fit what actually happened.

Either way, the kid is looking at time - he assaulted a man in front of dozens of witnesses who later died from his injury. It's sad, and wasteful, but it's going to happen.

The real question is, since this is not the first time something like this has happened, where was the league on this? Theoretically they are the ruling body, the higher authority - when their refs were getting assaulted previously, what were their reactions? Did they do anything to provide better security? Hire an off duty cop to work games? Or did they just ignore the problem?

If they did nothing to improve referee safety. are they legally culpable? Even if not legally culpable, should they be allowed to continue to operate?

With assaults like this taking place multiple times, at what point do you shut the league down?
boardman's Avatar
Sports are the devil. If it wasn't for sports these people wouldn't be getting so pissed off and looking for an outlet for their anger. We should ban all sports.
Old-T's Avatar
  • Old-T
  • 07-10-2014, 02:23 PM
Sports are the devil. If it wasn't for sports these people wouldn't be getting so pissed off and looking for an outlet for their anger. We should ban all sports. Originally Posted by boardman
You are absolutely correct! Ban sports!

Then they might turn to religion, and we know no one has ever gotten into a murderous rage because of religion. Or race. Or economics. Just ban sports and human nature will change overnight.
jdough1211's Avatar
Excellent job, gnadfly, in bumping a year old thread. FUCKING brilliant!
This is clearly a terrible, terrible incident.

A man is dead at the hands of a boy.

Legally, the child killed the man by striking him with his fist. A lot of people would guess this to be a straight up murder, but based on what I learned when I went for jury duty, there are many things to consider when trying to get a successful conviction, including intent, and whether the conduct performed could be reasonably expected to result in what occurred.

.....

If they did nothing to improve referee safety. are they legally culpable? Even if not legally culpable, should they be allowed to continue to operate?

With assaults like this taking place multiple times, at what point do you shut the league down? Originally Posted by fragtasticator
First, the "kid" was basically 17.5 yo at the time. Reading the incident he punched the ref when he wasn't looking. The ref had been assaulted multiple times before according to his daughter.

Again, this isn't unusual. A few weeks ago a Muslim player killed a Ref in Michigan. When I was involved with youth soccer I'd get a rather lengthy list of players that were suspended or permanently banned every two weeks.

Excellent job, gnadfly, in bumping a year old thread. FUCKING brilliant! Originally Posted by jdough1211
I actually asked permission.
pyramider's Avatar
Sports are the devil. If it wasn't for sports these people wouldn't be getting so pissed off and looking for an outlet for their anger. We should ban all sports. Originally Posted by boardman

They really should legalize cat fighting.
Sports are the devil. If it wasn't for sports these people wouldn't be getting so pissed off and looking for an outlet for their anger. We should ban all sports. Originally Posted by boardman
Sports is a good distraction so you won't pay attention to what the government and banks are doing to you.