Banned for Life for Basket-Brawl?

This is a partial transcript from "On the Record," December 3, 2004, that has been edited for clarity.

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GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Police in Michigan say they have identified each of the Indiana Pacers players and Detroit Pistons fans who broke the law in last month's brawl. Police expect to present the case to prosecutors on Monday. Prosecutors say they won't release the identities until charges are filed.

Our next guest is one of those who could be facing charges. John Green allegedly threw the beer at Ron Artest that sparked the melee. Earlier this week, the Pistons banned him from stepping foot in the Palace. Green and his two attorneys Shawn Smith and Barton Morris join us tonight from Detroit.

John, I guess the first question has got to be is that right that you were the one who threw the first beer or not?

BARTON MORRIS, ATTORNEY FOR JOHN GREEN: Well, Greta, I can't let my client answer that question. It's an ongoing investigation and we don't know what kind of charges he's facing. You as an attorney I'm sure can understand that I can't let him answer that question.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Well then, John, what did you do that night?

JOHN GREEN, PISTONS' FAN BANNED FOR LIFE: What did I do that night, Greta?

VAN SUSTEREN: Yes.

MORRIS: Enjoyed a basketball game.

GREEN: I just went to a game and enjoyed the game until the end and then witnessed a big brawl, you know.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you expect to be charged, John?

GREEN: Do I expect to be charged? You know right now from the way everybody, you know, talks and the way everything sounds, it sounds like they're going to do something. I don't know. You know, whatever they do, I've got my defense. I've got my lawyers Barton and Shawn and, you know, we're willing to face whatever happens.

VAN SUSTEREN: Shawn, I don't know if your client is going to get charged or not. I don't know if Ron Artest is going to be charged or not. But there's one piece of it that sort of has caught my attention. Your client has been banned from the Palace permanently for life and I take it Ron Artest has not been banned from the Palace. Is that fair to say?

SHAWN SMITH, ATTORNEY FOR JOHN GREEN: That is fair to say, Greta, and that's the ridiculous part. They've had a history of this type of activity going back to the last year's NBA finals when a guy was poking and spitting at one of the players. They didn't do anything to him.

The problem here is they're targeting John because they can't do anything to the NBA players, so they picked the littlest guy, which is John, and they're trying to make an example of him so everybody will go back to the stadium and feel comfortable and think that they took care of it when, in fact, they didn't take care of the problem.

The problem is not with John Green and our great fans. The problem is with these gangster basketball players, these gangster rap type hip-hop basketball players that come and do what they want when they want to whoever they want in whatever stadium they're in. That's the real problem, Greta.

VAN SUSTEREN: Barton, there are two issues, I mean, and the one is the one I hit your client with off the top: whether or not he committed the crime of assault by throwing a beer. That one is going to be taken care of by the prosecution or not.

And the other one is the treatment of the players who had been involved in this versus the treatment of your client by the NBA. Have you spoken to the NBA and said why is my client being banned from the Palace for life?

MORRIS: The NBA is not banning my client.

VAN SUSTEREN: Who is? The Palace?

MORRIS: It's the Palace of Auburn Hills. The NBA has the responsibility of taking care of the players and punishing the players for the wrongdoing that they did.

The Palace -- they're worried about the fans and I'm sure after this has been played over and over and over again and over the nation they're worried about other fans doing the same type of activities at future games.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right.

MORRIS: And so, I think that they're just trying to protect themselves and the fans. But the NBA is dealing with the players. The Palace, as the site where the incident occurred, they're dealing with the fans and with the banning of John Green from the facility.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, I only have ten seconds left. John, I know you have season tickets. Is it your intention to sort of sneak into the Palace anyway? And, give me a quick answer because I got to go.

GREEN: No. You know what, the Palace is going to do what they want to do but, you know, I'll tell you one thing. I would like to let you know about my favorite CD here by Bob Marley -- no, I'm just kidding Greta.

No, I'm not going to sneak into the Palace anytime soon, but I would like to see them ban the players that need to be banned for pummeling our fans. If they're going to ban me for they say allegedly throwing a cup, they should ban the players that beat up on our fans and not let them back into the Palace or anywhere near and they should lose their jobs just like anybody else that would lose their jobs if they got caught beating somebody up.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, gentlemen, thank you. We'll look to see whether or not charges are filed.

BROWN: Thanks, Greta.

VAN SUSTEREN: Thank you all for joining us.

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