SPRINGFIELD (IL)
WQAD
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. Two Springfield teenagers have pleaded guilty to beating and kicking a Roman Catholic priest in a city park in December.
Seventeen-year-old Jaime Gibson and 15-year-old Ryan Boyle entered their pleas to aggravated battery during separate court appearances in Sangamon County yesterday. In exchange, prosecutors have agreed to recommend no more than three years in prison when they're sentenced on July 19th.
The teens admitted stomping on and beating Monsignor Eugene Costa to the point that they feared he would die.
Costa -- who serve as pastor of parishes in the central Illinois communities of Sherman and Athens -- survived. But he resigned from the Springfield Diocese in January.
Posted by kshaw at May 24, 2005 08:19 AM