Teen gets 18 months jail for butting man

by Caitlin Francke SUN STAFF The Baltimore Sun

August 15, 1996 Page(s): 4B
Edition: HOWARD SUN
Section: METRO
Length: 418 words
Index Terms:
ELLICOTT CITY
ELKRIDGE

Record Number: BSUN466189

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A 19-year-old Oakland Mills man -- jailed for hitting a football player over the head with a beer bottle -- was sentenced yesterday to 18 months in jail for head-butting another man in Centennial Park last year.

Columbia resident Bradley Matulevich was given a five-year sentence with all but 18 months suspended for his July conviction on battery charges.
 

Matulevich, who played football for Oakland Mills High, is serving a 12-month sentence in the first case, in which he was convicted of assault with intent to maim for smashing a beer bottle over the head of Elkridge resident Shawn A. Sherman, who played for rival Howard High.

Sherman was hospitalized for nearly three weeks.

In court yesterday, the 6-foot-2-inch Matulevich told Howard County Circuit Judge Diane O. Leasure that he was sorry for his actions.

"I have made a lot of mistakes in my life," said Matulevich, who has been attending Bowie State University on work-release conditions.

"I just want to prove I can make it," he said.

Assistant State's Attorney Eileen McInerney asked that Matulevich be jailed for five years in the state prison. She said he committed the second attack while free on $50,000 bond awaiting trial in the first case.

According to charging documents, Matulevich and two others attacked Owen O'Neill in Centennial Park in Ellicott City in April 1995. Matulevich head-butted O'Neill, McInerney said.

During the trial, the defense maintained that Matulevich was at home during the incident and said his brother had been at the scene but had not been involved in the fight.

Yesterday, defense attorney Diane Patton argued against additional jail time.

"I don't think it will punish him any more. I don't think it will rehabilitate him any more," Patton said.

Police log

Elkridge: 200 block of Keeton Way: Someone pried a window screen and fled when lights came on at 1: 20 a.m. Wednesday. No entry was made.

Elkridge: 7900 block of Butterfield Drive: A resident reported yesterday that someone threw a cement gutter splash block through the rear door.

Elkridge: 7900 block of Waterloo Road: A welding tool was taken between 10: 30 p.m. Friday and 8: 30 a.m. Tuesday after a lock was cut.

Pub Date: 8/15/96

Copyright 1996 The Baltimore Sun Company