Hamilton
Ex-Giant avoids jail for hitting his son
He admits striking boy with electric cord
Thursday, April 20, 2006
BY MARGARET McHUGH
Star-Ledger Staff
Retired Giants defensive tackle Keith Hamilton, who is on probation for a drug offense, faces no jail time for hitting his 12-year-old son with an electric cord under a plea deal he took yesterday.
In admitting he endangered his son, Hamilton, 34, candidly ex plained why he used corporal punishment Feb. 1 in his Montville home.
"I disciplined him the way I was raised. Certain occasions call for drastic measures," he told Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Falcone.
Hamilton, who is divorced from his children's mother, sends his son to a private school in Passaic, where he is one of only eight stu dents in his class, he said. When Hamilton saw his son's report card, it wasn't the poor grades that angered him, "it was the fact of not trying, in my eyes," he said.
Hamilton said he views school as very important, and his son's lack of effort was unacceptable.
Since his arrest, Hamilton has not been allowed to see either his son or daughter, who live with their mother in West Paterson. But, as of yesterday, he is permitted to have supervised visits, Assistant Morris County Prosecutor Catherine Broderick said.
A decision on unsupervised visits will be made after a psychologist evaluates him, Broderick said.
Being kept from his children has been "about the worst you guys could do," Hamilton said, al though he acknowledged that the order barring him from seeing them stemmed from his own actions. Hamilton, who also has a 9-month-old baby from another re lationship, said he now understands that what he did is illegal.
"I love my kids very much. The only reason I'm not playing football today is because I wanted to spend more time with my kids," said Hamilton, neatly dressed in a blue pinstripe suit but no tie, and sporting a clean-shaven head and goatee.
Under his plea deal, Hamilton will serve three years on probation, beginning in August 2007 when he completes his probation for a 2004 cocaine possession conviction. Hamilton was caught with a gram of cocaine during a May 2003 motor vehicle stop on Route 287 in Harding.
A charge of second-degree ag gravated assault will be dismissed when he is sentenced June 23.
Police said Hamilton struck his son with an electric cord and surge protector, and picked him up by his throat and elbowed him in the chest. The beating left welts and bruises on the boy's legs, back and left forearm.
Morris County Prosecutor Michael M. Rubbinaccio personally approved the plea offer.
"I believe the plea offer was fair, understanding the entire family's desire to continue to have a rela tionship, and the defendant's sincere desire to rehabilitate himself, as well as maintaining a relation ship with his children," Rubbinac cio said.
"It is important that this sen tence break the cycle of family violence manifested through disci pline, which the defendant also learned growing up, particularly so this conduct does not pass to his children," Rubbinaccio said.
Though Hamilton violated his probation with the Feb. 1 arrest, Rubbinaccio noted the incident was unrelated to the drug convic tion, and that the probation department confirmed Hamilton has been drug-free.
Hamilton already is serving 1,080 hours of community service as part of his sentence on the co caine possession charge.
He has worked with Neighborhood House, the Rockaway Township Rockets Football League, Butler High School, Wayne Township PAO, Keep Children Safe Program at St. Justine's Preschool in Newark, a football camp for inner-city youth in Washington, D.C., Special Olympics, Eva's Village, DARE graduation in Linden, and the county's Drug Court, Rubbinaccio said.
