By Charles Webster
Daily Record
January 21, 2010
http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20100121/UPDATES01/100121021/Ex--coach-s-motion-for-mistrial-fails-in-sex-talk-case
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| Former St. Rose High School baseball coach Bartholomew McInerney takes the stand Tuesday in court in Freehold. McInerney is accused of engaging in explicit conversations with his players. Photo by BRADLEY J. PENNER |
FREEHOLD — Closing arguments in the trial of former high school baseball coach Bartholomew McInerney were delayed for more than an hour Wednesday as the judge sorted through allegations that several jurors were overheard discussing the case.
State Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mellaci Jr. halted the trial of Bartholomew McInerney, who coached at St. Rose High School, Belmar, before the afternoon session was set to begin after defense attorney Charles J. Uliano alerted the judge that four jurors, sitting at a table in the basement of the courthouse during the lunch break, were overheard discussing the case.
Jurors are customarily instructed not to talk about the trial they are hearing until they begin deliberating. The accusations in this case sparked some dramatic moments as Uliano called for a mistrial.
Tim McInerney and his wife, Jodi — Bartholomew McInerney's brother and sister-in-law — told the judge they heard the jurors inappropriately discussing the case, voicing their opinions about the charge that the coach endangered players by talking inappropriately with them about sex.
Tim McInerney said he heard one juror say he believed the defendant "knew what he was doing."
Tim McInerney also said he overheard a second juror say that Bartholomew McInerney "was just trying to help the kids out." When a third juror spoke up, the second juror said the comment was not to defend Bartholomew McInerney but to say that "he wasn't hiding anything."
Jodi McInerney told Mellaci she overheard the first juror say Uliano "lost them days ago" while another juror asserted "the defendant needed to have some consequences." She added that she overheard one of the jurors say "things had gotten out of control."
Prior to listening to the testimony of Tim and Jodi McInerney, Mellaci questioned each juror alone in the courtroom. All the jurors told the judge they had not discussed the case with anyone and denied making a decision about the outcome of the case.
But in response to the judge's questions, four jurors admitted sitting together at the table in the basement of the courthouse.
One juror denied hearing any discussions about the case while he was at the table, and the other three said their discussion centered on a decision by one of those jurors to divorce a cheating spouse. That juror held up a photograph in explaining what occurred to Mellaci. It was not clear what the photo represented.
After hearing from the jurors, and Tim and Jodi McInerney, Mellaci left the courtroom for a few minutes and returned to deny Uliano's request for a mistrial.
Uliano continued to lay out his closing arguments for the jury by running down the 11 counts attached to the 11 alleged victims, and reiterated his position that McInerney broke no laws.
"What he did was not a crime," Uliano said. "You may find many faults with Bart McInerney, but you cannot find that Bart McInerney would do anything to harm his players."
Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Peter Boser took aim at McInerney's testimony from earlier Wednesday, when he peppered the former coach with questions about his interaction and conversations with the 11 students.
McInerney, 43, of Spring Lake Heights, is charged with 11 counts of child endangerment, alleging he had conversations about masturbation and other sex-related topics with 11 students between the ages of 15 and 17 from 2001 until his November 2007 arrest.
A 12th count against McInerney was dismissed Tuesday because the activity occurred after the student's 18th birthday.
Known to his players and others as Coach Bart, McInerney lost his job at the high school after the allegations against him surfaced.
Over the course of his two days of testimony, McInerney repeatedly said his talks with the boys about their sexual activity were aimed at keeping them out of trouble.
In answering questions posed by Boser Wednesday, McInerney accused the students of being "untruthful" in their testimony about the conversations, and he categorically denied any wrongdoing.
McInerney did reveal in his testimony that the former baseball coach loaned money on four different occasions, totaling a little less than $3,000, to the parents of one of the students.
McInerney said the mother of the boy asked for a fifth loan in October 2007, but he refused because the family had not paid the previous loans back.
n questioned about a missing computer tower from his home when investigators first arrived at with a search warrant in their hands, McInerney said he kept his home unlocked and suggested the tower may have been stolen.
He also answered questions about the cell phone found by an investigator in the couch cushions where he sat after they searched his home. McInerney said the first cell phone he handed to investigators was in his front pocket and belonged to a priest friend who loaned it to him for his personal use after his personal cell phone became a nuisance.
McInerney went on to explain that his personal cell phone was in his back pocket and may have fallen out and into the cushions.
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