The three teen-age boys filed into the Summit County courtroom Wednesday morning dressed in their best.
One wore neatly pressed khaki pants, a white shirt and tie. Another, black dress slacks and a plum shirt. The third, a blue suit.
At their age, they should have been preparing to attend the fall dances at their high schools. Instead, they ended up in handcuffs -- faced with the prospect of spending the next three years in prison for the brutal beating of 16-year-old Ryan Burgess of Green.
Despite pleas for probation, Summit County Common Pleas Judge Ted Schneiderman said the crime's severity -- the victim suffered a fractured skull and nearly died -- warranted prison for all three: Anthony Odlivak, 19, of Green, and Robert VanDyne Jr., 16, and Gregory Evans, 17, both of Brimfield Township.
"Certainly, all three of the young men came from good families. That makes it even more tragic,'' Schneiderman said. "But the court feels that failure to impose a prison sentence would demean the seriousness of the offense.''
The teens -- who until the pronouncement had kept stiff upper lips -- started to crack as they were led to the courtroom's jury box to wait for a sheriff's deputy to escort them to the county jail.
VanDyne's eyes filled with tears as his mother, Diana, sobbed in the back of the courtroom. His grandfather, who had told the judge that the beating was out of character for his grandson, shook his head, stunned.
Evans' eyes also welled up as his parents tried to make arrangements to see him before a prison transport. And a group of friends -- all teen-agers themselves -- made their way from the courtroom crying.
All three are expected to seek early release, which they can apply for in six months.
Police and prosecutors say the attack stemmed from jealousy gone awry.
Ryan Burgess worked at the Giant Eagle (grocery store) in Green with Odlivak and a fourth defendant, Crystal Tackett, who were boyfriend and girlfriend.
Burgess apparently was interested in Tackett and had asked her out, and Odlivak decided to teach him a lesson for his interloping. Police say Odlivak encouraged his two younger friends, VanDyne and Evans, to attack Burgess on the misguided assumption that they wouldn't get into trouble because of their ages.
Odlivak and Tackett pleaded guilty to complicity to commit felonious assault. Tackett, 18, of Canal Fulton, is to be sentenced Sept. 18.
VanDyne and Evans -- after Juvenile Court Judge Judith Hunter determined they should be tried as adults -- pleaded guilty to felonious assault.
Ryan Burgess didn't attend the sentencing hearing. But his father, Michael, came prepared with a written statement about the effect the beating has had on his son, now 17.
Michael Burgess talked about the 6- to 8-inch scar stretching along his son's face. The metal plate that was installed in his head to seal his fractured skull. And then there's the memory loss and slipping grades that followed that fateful April 12 night in a Dairy Mart parking lot on Massillon Road in Green.
"Our son was a breath away from death, nearly murdered,'' Michael Burgess said. "The act was caused by individuals who have no value for human life or the feelings of the victim.''
But the three attorneys representing the teens all argued that the attack that night was an aberration -- the teens weren't really like that and their alcohol consumption that night left them without their normal good judgment.
All are remorseful, they said, and the teens each took a turn to offer an apology to Michael Burgess before Schneiderman handed down his sentence.
Odlivak's attorney, Donald Malarcik, tried to lessen his client's role -- saying Odlivak never got out of the car and didn't even see the attack on Burgess.
"Look at the different levels of culpability,'' Malarcik said. "He did not lay a finger on Ryan Burgess. He was heartbroken when he found out the level of injuries he sustained.''
But Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Connie Haslinger -- who simply asked for a prison sentence for each without specifying a length -- urged Schneiderman to treat the three equally.
VanDyne's attorney, David Lombardi, brought Melissa Cash, a nurse who works at the juvenile detention facility on Dan Street, to testify on the teen-agers' behalf. Cash said she was astounded to learn why Evans and VanDyne were being held after she had interacted with them for a few days and found them to be respectable, decent boys.
"I've seen kids come in, and they are lifers,'' she said afterward. "Those two did not fit. It's just sad.''
Afterward, Lombardi said the families were devastated. They had hoped for community-based treatment or probation -- based on the fact that this was their first dealing with the criminal justice system.
"They didn't use weapons. They each struck once. They didn't intend to do anything but bruise him, scare him,'' Lombardi said.
