KOLO - Southern Nevada News - Headlines

Former Coach Gets Jail Time in Casino Death

By: AP Email
Posted: Thu 3:44 PM, Feb 14, 2013

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A former high school football coach from Florida has been ordered to serve three months in jail and pay a $5,000 fine in the one-punch death of a Utah man at a Las Vegas casino.

A judge on Thursday also said 39-year-old Benjamin Gerard Hawkins of Gainesville must serve five years of probation, undergo impulse-control and anger management counseling, and abstain from alcohol after his conviction for involuntary manslaughter.

The judge initially sentenced Hawkins to between one and two years in the Nevada Department of Corrections but immediately suspended the sentence in favor of probation.

Hawkins has remained free after his November conviction in the death of 46-year-old John Massie, who Hawkins said derided him with racial comments.

The single punch thrown by Hawkins was captured on security video.


Comments are posted from viewers like you and do not always reflect the views of this station.
powered by Disqus

KOLO First Alert Weather

KOLO Features

Find great local jobs here!
KOLO-TV 4850 Ampere Drive Reno, NV 89502
Gray Television, Inc. - Copyright © 2002-2013 - Designed by Gray Digital Media - Powered by Clickability
User Agent: CCBot/2.0 - 191300391