UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Charge is refiled against priest in player's death

It happened one day after the charge was dismissed by the coroner's office.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- An involuntary manslaughter charge was refiled Tuesday against a Roman Catholic priest accused of providing alcohol to a University of Pittsburgh football player who died after falling through a church ceiling.
The charge was refiled against the Rev. Henry Krawczyk a day after the Allegheny County coroner's office ruled that Billy Gaines' death was an accident and dismissed the charge.
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. said Tuesday that a jury should be allowed to decide whether Krawczyk -- who allegedly supplied alcohol to Gaines, 19, and several other underage men at a cookout at a Homestead church in June -- is responsible for the Pitt wide receiver's death.
"Whether or not we get a conviction, the most important thing is whether or not a jury hears this matter because juries determine guilt or innocence," Zappala said.
Arraigned, released
Krawczyk, who has resigned as pastor of Maximilian Kolbe Parish, was arraigned Tuesday afternoon and released on his own recognizance.
David Cercone, Krawczyk's attorney, said he will handle the case the same way he did during the coroner's inquest.
"I don't think any of the facts have changed," he said.
Zappala said he would ask the Court of Common Pleas in Allegheny County to send the case directly to an administrative or motions judge in order to avoid another coroner's inquest.
Gaines died after crashing through the rafters of St. Anne's Church, which is part of the parish, and falling some 25 feet onto a church pew. He and a teammate, David Abdul, had been exploring a crawl space above the ceiling, prosecutors said.
Testified
Abdul and two other men testified at a coroner's inquest on Monday that Krawczyk furnished alcohol to six underage men at the cookout in the hours leading up to Gaines' fall at about 2:30 a.m. on June 18. Tests showed that Gaines' blood-alcohol content was just over 0.16 percent when he was taken to the hospital, well above the state's legal intoxication limit of 0.1 percent.
An attorney for Gaines' family welcomed the news.
"The family of Billy Gains is impressed and grateful for the decision and the district attorney's actions," Christopher Hellmich. "We continue to monitor the civil and criminal aspects of this case very carefully."
A spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, declined comment.
A charge of reckless endangerment against Krawczyk, also dismissed Monday, was refiled. Krawczyk is already facing a single count of reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison, as well as six counts of furnishing alcohol to minors, all misdemeanors carrying up to one year in prison each.