BY JULIA CORDEROY
ANCHOR EMILY SPAIN
A $5 bet at a party goes horribly wrong - resulting in the death of 25-year-old aspiring rapper. Chicago’s WLS has the details.
“She is 22 year old Tiffany Startz and it was in this garage last year that prosecutors say Startz’s friend Jimmy Mounts offered $5 to any party goer willing to take Startz’s punch - 25 year old John Powell accepted the challenge...”
Witnesses say Powell collapsed seconds after the punch and later died from a brain injury caused by a burst artery in the neck.
Now, Tiffany Startz is on trial for felony reckless conduct and misdemeanor battery.
Powell’s mother thinks Startz should go to jail. Ninemsn has her comments.
“No one knew what was going to happen, but she knew the power that she had behind the punch. She did it, she deserves to go to jail for it. She deserves to be convicted for what she did.”
Witnesses differ in their accounts of the power behind the punch. The Chicago Sun Times reports one party-goer said...
“Startz hit Powell with ‘full force.’”
While it reports another said...
“It didn’t look like Startz hit him too hard.”
Startz’s attorney argues the charges should be dropped because Powell allowed Startz to punch him. Here’s what he had to say to Chicago’s WMAQ.
MASTERS: “We don’t believe that Tiffany Startz committed a crime.”
REPORTER: “What was this - an innocent bet? Monkey business gone bad?”
MASTERS: “This is a punishment of the result, and not the act.”
The Chicago Tribune reports the friend who offered the bet pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was sentenced to two years of probation.
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