'Basket-Brawl' Punishments Doled Out

This is a partial transcript from "On the Record," December 8, 2004, that has been edited for clarity.

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GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Five Indiana Pacers and seven fans are facing criminal charges following last month's NBA brawl at the Pacers-Pistons game.

Most were slapped with a misdemeanor account of assault and battery, which likely will not result in jail time if they have a clean record, but jail time is likely for the fan charged with tossing a chair, a felony assault. And he could have more jail time because of his prior criminal convictions.

Oakland County prosecutor David Gorcyca joins us now via phone from Detroit.

Welcome, David.

DAVID GORCYCA, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN, PROSECUTOR: Good evening.

VAN SUSTEREN: David, first of all, who's charged with the felony, out of this group of seven or — actually, there are 12 who were charged?

GORCYCA: It was the individual who wiggled the chair loose and threw it amongst the individuals who were going through the visiting players' tunnel.

VAN SUSTEREN: One of the people you have charged with a fan named John Green, who has been on this show. How is he identified as one of the people to charge?

GORCYCA: Ironically, John was a neighbor of mine 10, 12 years ago. And it took about 20 takes of footage before I realized that was, in fact, John. So I guess, you know, it was me and once I identified him, I called the Auburn Hills police.

VAN SUSTEREN: Have you had any trouble getting the cooperation of those who have been charged? Are they willing to report to court? What is the procedure?

GORCYCA: In fact, the individual who threw the chair has already subjected himself to the jurisdiction of the district court locally here. A number of attorneys have already contacted the office to make arrangements to be arraigned in the next several days.

So we've had cooperation from a number of not only players but fans.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you expect that they will all be tried together, or will they all get individual trials, if they decide to go to trial and not work out some deal with you?

GORCYCA: Well, first, there will be no deals. But secondly, I don't see that there will be a multitude of trials. We charged them on one warrant, the reason being, I think it would be a logistical nightmare to go through trials with eight, nine, 10 defendants.

So we are going to try them all at once in front of one jury, hopefully. Now, that's not to say that the defense attorneys will move to bifurcate the trials, but that will be in the judge's discretion.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. John Ackerman Jr. is the one who's charged with the felony for the chair, right?

GORCYCA: No, that would be Bryant Jackson.

VAN SUSTEREN: OK. Bryant Jackson. What is the maximum men penalty he could get?

GORCYCA: The underlying offense is felony assault, which is a four-year felony in the state of Michigan. However, due to the fact that he has three prior felony convictions, it elevates it to an eight-year offense.

VAN SUSTEREN: And John Ackerman, I misspoke, John Ackerman Jr., his father is the one who actually got hit with the chair. He's accused of throwing a cup at one of the players, right?

GORCYCA: That's true. But John Ackerman Sr., according to all the video depictions that I have seen, was never struck by the chair.

Junior, and I only mentioned him by "junior" because of identification purposes. They don't go by junior and senior, by moniker. But Junior does throw a cup of what I believe to be beer, on one of the players, which further escalates the situation. He is then struck by Indiana Pacer player Harrison.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Do you expect any more charges or is this the full universe of people you expect to charge in connection with this brawl?

GORCYCA: I suspect we will amend our warrant and there will be a number of local ordinances issued against fans that entered the playing surface, as well as if we can identify those who threw liquid substances...

VAN SUSTEREN: They'll get it — they'll get it, as well. And sorry to cut you off, but I've got to go to break. David, thank you very much for joining us.

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