A 19-year-old Whitefish man has been given a six-year deferred sentence for severely beating a fellow student in the parking lot at Whitefish High School last year.
Joseph W. Goetsch pleaded guilty to felony criminal endangerment on April 23 and was sentenced Thursday by District Judge Ted Lympus. Lympus also ordered Goetsch to pay the portion of the victim’s $12,250 in medical bills not covered by insurance.
Court records say witnesses told police that Goetsch kicked the 16-year-old victim in the stomach and punched him in the mouth, knocking out his teeth. The victim suffered a concussion and other wounds in the March 2009 attack.
A second teenager, who was 17 at the time of the attack, was given a probationary sentence in Youth Court for his role in the assault.