Published: August 29, 2008 01:27 am            

ALLEGED ASSAULT: Charges may be reduced against 3 Wilson teens

WILSON — Charges may be reduced for three Wilson baseball players accused in an alleged sexual assault on a school bus.

The Niagara County District Attorney’s office plans to refile charges against 16-year-olds Colton J. Sherman and Christopher A. Sidote and 18-year-old Geoffrey A. Seefeldt, reducing the charges to misdemeanor to allow the case to stay at the town court level.

All three appeared Thursday in Wilson Town Court, where Assistant District Attorney Robert Zucco told Justice George Berger that the new charges will be ready in two weeks.

Sherman, Sidote and Seefeldt are accused of assaulting at least two junior varsity baseball players during an April 17 bus trip back to Wilson from Niagara Falls.

Seefeldt had been charged with three counts of third-degree aggravated sexual abuse, a felony, and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.

Sherman and Sidote had been charged with one count each of third-degree aggravated sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.

“My understanding is that some, if not all, of the original charges are going to be withdrawn, and they will place some new charges in the file,” said Andrew Vona, Sidote’s attorney.

The felony charges will likely be reduced to misdemeanors, possibly including forcible touching or hazing, which could be a misdemeanor or a violation, according to Sherman’s attorney Kevin Shelby.

The defendants are due back in court Sept. 9. If the charges are filed as misdemeanors, the case will begin anew on the Wilson Town Court schedule, starting with an arraignment and possibly heading for trial.

The decision to refile was made by the district attorney’s office, Vona said.

“They didn’t share their reasoning with us, but it seems to me that the logical reason would be that there was not enough evidence for these charges to exist as a felony, and that certainly a felony couldn’t be proven in this case, which is what we’ve been saying all along,” he said.

According to court documents, the teens are accused of “(inserting) a foreign object into the rectum of a male while he was being held down on the floor of the school bus.”

Shelby said the refiling will be a relief for the three students, saying he felt the case had been “overcharged” from the start.

“One of the elements of aggravated sex abuse is penetration,” Shelby said. “We had volumes of information that there was no penetration, so that’s one element that’s gone.”

Vona said two of the victims were examined by a doctor after the incidents, but defense attorneys have not been privy to the results of those examinations. The victims had clothing on during the assault, which Vona said “would make it a little more factually unbelievable that the penetration did occur.”

Both Vona and Shelby denied there were any “sexual overtones” to the alleged incident.

The initial investigation was conducted by the New York State Police. Once the district attorney’s office had the case, they conducted their own investigation and determined there was not enough proof to sustain the felony charges, Vona said.

“I think (the case) got blown out of proportion long before it ever got to the district attorney’s office to be thoroughly investigated,” Vona said. “What the source was for that inflation of the truth, I can’t tell you for sure.”

Neither attorney said their clients would be willing to plead to a misdemeanor charge, however. Shelby said they maintain that nothing criminal occurred on the bus, so the teens will not be pleading to a criminal charge.

“We do not believe that a crime has occurred,” he said. “There was some conduct that was certainly not appropriate, but you know, boys will be boys. And I hate to say that because of the level that this was charged, but at the same time, the facts are the facts.”

Shelby described the incident on the bus as “roughhousing that got out of hand.”

“It’s not something that these boys should be labeled criminals for,” he said. “Everything we’ve seen so far points away from (the felony charge). It’s a real shame to charge that level of crime before there’s even a scintilla of evidence that can sustain the charge.”

Both attorneys spoke of the effect the case has had on their clients.

“You can’t take away the fact that they’ve been charged with aggravated sexual abuse in the third degree,” Shelby said. “That charge is going to show up on profiles throughout the rest of their lives, so it’s very unfortunate. ... They have 50 years forward that they’re gonna have to explain that.”

Vona said all parties involved would like to see the case resolved.

“It’s a nice school system, it’s a nice place to live,” Vona said. “I think not just for these three young men that are charged, but for the whole community, some closure to this case, and to go back to living their lives, would be beneficial for everybody.”

Contact reporter April Amadon at 439-9222, ext. 6251.

        

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