The civil trial over Ereck Plancher’s death will begin Monday as scheduled after Circuit Judge Robert M. Evans rejected a motion by the UCF legal team to put the trial on hold.
The UCF legal team’s motion had called for the trial be put on hold until the Fifth District Court of Appeals reviewed the motion and made a final decision on it. The motion was submitted by UCF attorney’s requesting a different judge after Evans made comments such as deeming UCF coach O’Leary “(not) the sharpest knife in the drawer.”
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UCF Attorneys have argued that such comments serve as proof that there is a bias against UCF and the coaching staff and thus will lead to an unfair trial and proceedings. When asked, Evans did not acknowledge UCF’s motion as valid and even went so far as to call it “legally insufficient.”
Ereck Plancher was a 19-year-old football player for the UCF Knights who had collapsed and soon after died following a workout in March of 2008. In March 2009, his parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit claiming that the UCF training staff did not properly treat or care for Plancher although they were fully aware of the sickle cell trait he had.
Although the Judge denied that motion, he agreed on certain others, such as refraining from informing the jury of other players who had tested positive of the sickle cell trait which is suspected to have caused the death of Plancher. He also agreed to not inform the jury about Coach O’Leary’s previous resignation from the Notre Dame coaching staff in 2001 after lying about his previous academic and athletic history.
The trial begins Monday and is scheduled to run for about three weeks. Knightnews will be present at the trial to report the full progress of the case. Check back for continuous updates.
