Practice conditions at issue in ex-coach’s trial in death of Ky. high school football player

Practice at issue in football player death trial

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Former coach David Jason Stinson put winning ahead of safety, a prosecutor said as trial opened for the Kentucky coach charged in a player’s death following football practice, but Stinson’s defense said the practice wasn’t unusually hard.

Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Leland Hulbert said in opening statements Thursday that Stinson ran a brutal practice the day 15-year-old Max Gilpin collapsed, denying players water and using tactics that led to the sophomore lineman’s death three days later.

“Coach Stinson knew the risks that day,” Hulbert said. “He put competitiveness and winning … ahead of safety.”

The former Pleasure Ridge Park High School coach, who is charged with reckless homicide and wanton endangerment, ran a tough practice, but wasn’t responsible for the heat stroke that felled Gilpin and never denied him water, defense attorney Brian Butler said. Butler called the prosecution a “witch hunt.”

“This man is innocent!” Butler thundered.

Stinson’s trial is a rare case of a coach being charged in the death of a player. Gilpin died Aug. 23, 2008, at a Louisville hospital of heat stroke, sepsis and organ failure. Medical examiners opted not to perform an autopsy.

Gilpin had collapsed at the end of a series of sprints during practice. A weather reading taken before practice and filed in court showed a temperature of 94, humidity of 26 percent and a heat index of 94 degrees.

A jury of 10 men and five women was selected Thursday afternoon. The trial is expected to last two to three weeks. Some of Gilpin’s family sat on one side of the courtroom, while Stinson’s wife, Monica, and supporters sat across an aisle.

Both opening statements focused on how Stinson ran football practice the day Gilpin collapsed. Hulbert and Butler both described a practice that started late and ended with Stinson ordering players to run sprints after becoming upset at the lack of effort 10 days before the first game of the season.

Hulbert showed jurors a football helmet, jersey, pants and shoulder pads, as well as an overhead photo of the football field to illustrate where players were during the practice.

He said Stinson was trained to deal with players stricken by extreme heat but ignored signs that players were having bad reactions to the weather and didn’t help Gilpin, who wore jersey number 61, after he collapsed.

“Who started that barbaric practice?” Hulbert asked. “Coach Stinson. He never helped number 61 that day.”

Butler called Gilpin’s death a “tragedy” and charged that Hulbert’s opening statement was full of “out and out falsehoods.”

Butler said prosecutors contend that coaches didn’t make water available to the players at the practice, but Gilpin was not dehydrated when he collapsed. Butler showed jurors charts of Gilpin’s medical records. Butler said the records showed Gilpin was hydrated when he got to the hospital.

“Jason didn’t deprive Max Gilpin of water,” Butler said. “He had plenty of water and water played no part in his tragic death.”

Since the indictment, Stinson has been working in a non-teaching position with Jefferson County Public Schools. School officials have said if Stinson is acquitted, he will be allowed to apply for a coaching position again.

Gilpin’s parents have also filed a lawsuit against Stinson and others over the teen’s death. That case is scheduled for trial in February 2010.