ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 1997 TAG: 9701140075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
THE KIDS SAID he whipped them. His lawyer said the kids were living in fantasy. Just what went on during that lights-out practice at Oakey Field?
A Salem judge ruled Monday night that the evidence was too muddy to convict a Pee Wee football coach of assaulting his players with a belt - but not before he gave the coach a lecture on using suggestions of violence to keep kids in line.
The case packed the tiny Juvenile and Domestic Relations courtroom in Salem and pitted the testimony of adults who said they didn't see anything against children who said their coach had whipped them with a belt during a pre-championship-game practice.
Judge Philip Trompeter dismissed three counts of assault and battery against Keith E. Gaines, 42, of Salem.
Gaines admitted that when his young players got out of hand, he took off his belt and - in a joking way - asked if they'd ever been "snake-bit." But he said he didn't hit anyone.
His attorney, Greg Phillips, argued that the 7-, 8- and 9-year-olds were living in "Barney's Fantasy Land" and making up a story to get attention.
Trompeter disagreed. "I personally don't believe that these children are lying," the judge said. But he said the conflict between the adults' and the children's testimony was too great to overcome the burden of proof in a criminal case.
The situation that brought these people into the courtroom happened Nov. 1, the day after Halloween and the day before the North Salem Eagles were to play in the Pee Wee Super Bowl. When the team arrived, the lights at Oakey Field were off. The team had to run through its plays in near darkness.
The players, hyped up on candy and dreams of the big game, were running wild. One assistant coach said the kids were punching each other, swinging their helmets in their hands, even kicking the football into the street.
Five players testified Gaines hit two or three kids on the buttocks with his belt.
"He hit us with a belt after we wouldn't listen," said one 9-year-old, who played end and "a little bit of quarterback." He said the coach had hit him and two teammates.
One 7-year-old said Gaines swung at him, but he jumped and the belt missed him.
Their accounts were in conflict with the testimony of Gaines, Gaines' 8-year-old son, two assistant coaches and a parent who had attended practice.
One assistant, Scooter Darnell, said Gaines took out the belt and said, "Anyone seen a blacksnake belt?"
"It was a joking situation," Darnell said.
Still, he said, the result was a bit like a sheriff walking into a saloon fight in a Hollywood Western and shooting his six-gun into the ceiling.
Everyone got quiet.
Darnell said it was hard to see without lights on the field - everyone looked "more like silhouettes" than anything else - but it was not impossible to tell what was going on.
Gaines conceded taking out his belt "was poor judgment." But "it caught their attention."
His attorney, Phillips, argued that the children's attempts to get attention by telling stories had "snowballed" to the point it was too late to turn back. "Maybe right now, on this day, they actually believe they were hit by this belt," he said.
But Commonwealth's Attorney Fred King noted there were disagreements even among the adults over who was where and what was said. In fact, the prosecutor said, it's normal for witnesses to disagree over the exact details of an incident, especially during a confusing swirl of events in the dark.
Before he made his decision, Trompeter called everyone into the courtroom. Then he spent a full minute reading through notes he'd typed into his laptop computer. The courtroom was silent, save for a couple of stage-whisper gasps by two children.
Then the judge spoke.
Giving no hint of his decision, he spent six minutes lecturing Gaines, telling him that pulling out the belt was more than poor judgment. "I don't like that. To me it's a dress rehearsal" - a signal that violence may be coming.
Trompeter said he couldn't tell exactly what had happened that night. But "I certainly hope nothing like this will have to happen again."
Then, finally, his decision: "I'm not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt." The judge dismissed the charges and told everyone they could go home. The hearing had lasted through dinner time.
Behind Gaines, almost unnoticed, one of the young witnesses walked out of the courtroom with his mother. His eyes swelled with tears. King, the prosecutor, ruffled his hair and told him, "You did a good job. You can be a witness for me any time."
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN STAFF Keith Gaines (center) leaves theby CNBSalem courthouse with his wife, Cynthia, and an unidentified
supporter after the trial Monday. color