No jail time for boxer in assault
Wesley Triplett, 22, of Youngstown.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — A super heavyweight Golden Gloves boxer who punched a fellow basketball player and broke his jaw has been placed on three years’ probation.
“You need some control on anger management,” Judge James C. Evans told Wesley Triplett, 22, of Dearborn Street, as he sentenced him Thursday.
Conditions of his probation are that he must maintain employment, participate in the Community Corrections Association’s day reporting program and undergo anger management counseling and random alcohol and drug testing.
The Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge said Triplett must remain alcohol- and drug-free and imposed a suspended $15,000 fine.
If Triplett violates the terms of his probation, Judge Evans told Triplett he’ll go to prison for eight years, which would be the maximum sentence for the felonious assault charge to which Triplett pleaded no contest last month.
On Sept. 2, 2007, the 6-foot-61⁄2-inch, 213-pound Triplett punched Dr. Matt Gugliotti, a family practice resident at St. Elizabeth Health Center, with a closed fist after fouling the doctor during a league basketball game at the former South High School Fieldhouse.
The doctor was knocked unconscious and suffered brief memory loss, headaches and dizziness.
Triplett apologized to Dr. Gugliotti in court and added: “I never meant for any of that to happen. I mean I just made a mistake.”
Triplett appeared in court in an orange county jail uniform because he is serving a 10-day jail term for domestic violence in an unrelated case. The victim in that misdemeanor case told Judge Evans that she and Triplett quarreled but that Triplett never hit her.
Nick Lavanty, owner of Nicolinni’s restaurants in Austintown and Boardman, told the judge he’ll hire Triplett as a cook after Triplett leaves jail.
“I could have died from this senseless act,” said Dr. Gugliotti, who asked the judge to put Triplett in prison for at least two years. “My early career as a doctor has been severely and unnecessarily affected by this assault,” the doctor told the judge.
Martin P. Desmond, assistant county prosecutor, suggested that the judge impose a one-month jail term commensurate with the length of time the doctor’s broken jaw had to be wired shut.
Defense lawyer Ron Knickerbocker, who asked the judge to grant probation, said Triplett has no prior felony record, intended to play basketball and did not intend to assault anyone. “This is not going to happen again,” Knickerbocker said.
Earlier this month, Triplett won the super heavyweight division of the 2008 Ringside World Championships.
Triplett trains at the Southside Boxing Club under Jack Loew, trainer of world middleweight boxing champion Kelly Pavlik.