Teen sentenced for school attack

A Whitefish teenager has been given a six-year deferred sentence for severely beating another student in the Whitefish High School parking lot last year.

Joseph Wayne Goetsch, 19, pleaded guilty April 23 to felony criminal endangerment, which, as part of a plea agreement, prosecutors reduced from felony aggravated assault.

Thursday’s sentence was based on a recommendation from prosecutors.

“You understand the seriousness of this assault that was inflicted by you?” Judge Ted Lympus asked Goetsch on Thursday.

The teen nodded. “Absolutely,” he said.

A second teenager arrested in connection with the March 18, 2009, attack, 18-year-old Zachary Robert Watson, pleaded guilty in Youth Court in October 2009 to the assault and was sentenced to seven months of probation.

One condition of his deferred sentence requires Goetsch to have no contact with Watson or the victim.

In addition to his sentence, Goetsch was ordered to pay $12,252 in restitution to the victim. Part of that will be covered by medical insurance, but Goetsch will be responsible for the rest.

Because he was a minor at the time of the attack, Watson was not held financially responsible.

According to court documents, one witness reported seeing Watson tackle the alleged victim, a 16-year-old boy, and then punch him.

Witnesses told investigators Goetsch kicked the boy in the stomach and punched him in the mouth, knocking out his teeth. Another witness said the victim was pinned to the ground while the beating occurred.

Investigators believe the attack was in retaliation for an earlier altercation involving the victim and a friend of the defendants, according to Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial.

Lympus said Thursday that according to the pre-sentencing investigation, the defendants’ friend was a girl who allegedly had been harmed by the victim.

Goetsch, however, did not admit to police that the assault was retaliatory, Dial said.

The victim, who briefly lost consciousness, suffered blunt head trauma, cuts and a concussion. He was taken by ambulance to North Valley Hospital.

Watson was arrested soon after the attack and Goetsch, who already had left school in his car, later turned himself in at the police station.