STLtoday wrote:Danton pleads guilty in murder plot
By Michael Shaw
Of the Post-Dispatch
07/16/2004
St. Louis Blues player Mike Danton today pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit interstate murder for hire in a plot to kill his agent.
The surprise plea came in federal court in East St. Louis. Danton faces a prison term ranging from 87 months to 10 years. Sentencing was set for Oct. 22.
He said nothing in the courtroom except to answer questions from U.S. District Judge William Stiehl, admitting to the facts in the indictment against him.
Federal prosecutors have agreed to let Danton serve his possible prison time in his native Canada. Stiehl told Danton that the agreement may bar him from re-entering the United States.
Originally, Danton, 23, had been scheduled to appear in court on Monday in connection with motions in the case. Instead, lawyers came to court today with the final plea agreement.
The plea was the second court hearing in the case this week. On Monday, Danton's alleged accomplice, Katie Wolfmeyer, 19, of Florissant, appeared in court. She is free on $100,000 bond and faces trial in September
Danton and Wolfmeyer had faced identical murder-for-hire conspiracy charges, with Wolfmeyer accused of trying to hire the would-be killer of Danton's agent, David Frost.
The would-be killer -- identified by the government for the first time in court Friday as Justin Jones, a Columbia, Ill., police dispatcher -- notified authorities, and Frost was unharmed.
Stephen Clark, the case's lead federal prosecutor said Danton promised to pay Jones $10,000 to kill Frost. Danton apparently said the person he wanted slain would be in Danton's suburban St. Louis apartment and that $3,000 would be left in an unlocked safe, Clark said.
Jones reported the plot, and authorities secretly taped many of the conversations Danton later had with Jones and Wolfmeyer.
In one such call, Clark said, Danton told Jones that somebody was coming from Canada to kill Danton and that Jones should make the killing look like a botched burglary.
In another conversation -- while Danton was with the Blues in California during the NHL playoffs -- Danton told Wolfmeyer, "I owe you guys so much," Clark said.
"Yeah, you do," Clark said Wolfmeyer replied.
Clark declined to say how Danton's guilty plea may affect the case against Wolfmeyer, scheduled for trial Sept. 1.
Wolfmeyer has been portrayed by her attorneys as a naive young woman simply smitten with an athlete who ultimately manipulated her. Donald Groshong, a Wolfmeyer attorney who attended Friday's hearing, said he hoped Danton's admission would lead the government to dismiss its case against Wolfmeyer.
Danton has been jailed since his arrest April 16 in San Jose, Calif., a day after the San Jose Sharks eliminated the Blues from the playoffs.
Danton's contract was not renewed by the Blues, his attorney said Friday.
ESPN wrote:Danton Pleads Guilty in Murder for Hire Plot
Friday, July 16, 2004
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. -- Former St. Louis Blues player Mike Danton admitted Friday that he sought to have his agent killed as part of a plot that unraveled when the would-be hit man turned out to be a police informant.
Danton pleaded guilty to a federal murder-for-hire conspiracy charge and could face seven to 10 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines when he is sentenced Oct. 22.
"Obviously, this is what I think is a good result," prosecutor Stephen Clark said. "I think it's a fair deal."
Danton, 23, was to have been tried in September with co-defendant Katie Wolfmeyer, 19. He and Wolfmeyer, a college student from a St. Louis suburb, faced identical conspiracy charges, with Wolfmeyer accused of trying to hire the would-be killer of Danton's agent, David Frost.
The would-be killer -- identified by the government for the first time in court Friday as Justin Jones, a Columbia, Ill., police dispatcher -- eventually went to police, and Frost was unharmed.
The prosecutor told the Friday judge that Danton had promised to pay Jones $10,000 to kill Frost and make it appear like a botched burglary.
Investigators have said Danton was worried that Frost would go to the Blues with information that could damage his career. Frost has said he urged Danton to get help for his use of painkillers and sleeping pills and his erratic behavior.
Wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, Danton hung his head occasionally when U.S. District Judge William Stiehl outlined the case against him. He replied to the judge's questions with a "yes" or "no" before declaring, "I plead guilty."
Danton has been jailed since his arrest April 16 in San Jose, Calif., a day after the San Jose Sharks eliminated the Blues from the playoffs.
Wolfmeyer has pleaded not guilty and is to be tried in September. Her lawyers have said she was naive young woman simply smitten with an athlete who ultimately manipulated her.
Federal prosecutors agreed to let Danton serve his possible prison time in his native Canada. U.S. District Judge William Stiehl told Danton that the agreement may bar him from re-entering the United States.
the original "WTF?" thread we had on danton got corrupted so to speak, sorry - we lost those posts.STLtoday wrote:We may never know why Danton went off the deep end
By Jeff Gordon
Of the Post-Dispatch
07/16/2004
We may never know exactly why Blues winger Mike Danton went off the deep end.
We may never know all that happened between him and his agent/guru David Frost, all the strange events that led Danton to conspire to murder him.
We suspect that it's a very strange and troubling story, a cautionary tale about a young man who left home at a young age, turned his life over to a youth hockey coach, disowned his family and then fell to pieces.
Folks viewing the Danton/Frost story from a safe distance hoped that a trial would produce some answers. We all wanted to see Danton take the stand and explain why he allowed Frost to micromanage his life.
Why wanted to know why Danton became desperate to end his arrangement with Frost, so desperate that he saw murder as the only way out.
We wanted to see Danton put down his prepared statements, just once, and describe what exactly went haywire. We wanted to see why a young man would fall into such a pathetic state, even after his NHL career was just taking off.
People familiar with Danton, his family and his relationship with Frost insist there was quite a story to be told, one that would shed sympathetic light on his life . . . but now we may never really know what happened.
Danton decided to remain mum. In a sudden and startling decision, he admitted his guilt and returned to jail will his secrets safely intact.
By pleading guilty, Danton put himself in line for a long prison term. He faces a sentence of 87 months to 10 years, to be served in his native Canada.
By pleading guilty, Danton accepted that his promising hockey career was over and all his childhood dreams were dashed.
By pleading guilty, Danton allowed Frost, his intended target, to escape some much-needed scrutiny.
This was another curious turn in one of the most peculiar sports sagas of our lifetime.
Personally, I wanted to pity Danton. I wanted to believe that he was a good kid lured into a bad situation. I wanted to believe he was a needy, gullible, vulnerable kid that latched onto a manipulator.
I wanted to believe he developed deep psychological problems that explained his erratic behavior.
I wanted to believe he was a victim, not a criminal. As a parent of two teenagers, I shuddered at the news accounts and hoped for a happier ending. I wanted Danton to get help, not a long prison term.
But Danton went to the courthouse Friday and took the fall. He owned up to one of the most idiotic, implausible, ill-fated criminal plots of all time.
The stupidity of it all would make for an excellent comedy – except that the end result, a life needlessly, is so tragic.
this kid could have been a 15-20-year player and had an impact every year. sad.