Wednesday, March 17, 2004
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Wednesday, March 17, 2004 |
| Jury to decide whether former NFL star put gun in son’s mouth By JOHN MUNFORD The fate of a former National Football League player charged with terrorizing his wife and son with a pistol thrust into their faces was in the hands of a Fayette jury Tuesday afternoon. Monday afternoon, jurors saw a re-enactment led by a teenage victim who says his dad, a former pro football player, stuck a gun in his mouth while disciplining him for poor grades in spring 2001. Gregory Lenard Lloyd, once a linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, testified Tuesday in his aggravated assault trial that the incident his son testified to never happened. During the demonstration Monday, the son, 15, grabbed the neck of a court employee who volunteered to assist. He then pushed her against the wall, explaining what happened in a walk-in closet of the family’s 12,000-square-foot home in the Whitewater Creek subdivision. The youth testified Monday that his father told him to open his mouth and then stuck a pistol inside it. “He told me I was wasting my life away. And if I wanted to, he’d end it for me,” said the son, who was 12 when the alleged incident occurred. “I was scared to death.... I didn’t want to die over some grades.” As the elder Lloyd testified Tuesday, his attorney, Ricky Morris, asked if he had “ever put a gun” in his son’s mouth. “Absolutely not,” Lloyd replied. Testimony in the case continued Tuesday afternoon in Fayette Superior Court before Judge Johnnie L. Caldwell Jr. On the witness stand, Lloyd said he still loved his son, whom he has not seen in over a year. In a tender moment, Lloyd marveled at how much his son had grown since he had seen him last. “Yesterday when I saw him, he was bigger than me,” Lloyd said. Lloyd later added that he thought his son “was under his mother’s influence,” an apparent reference to the contentious pending divorce proceedings that have served as a backdrop for much of the trial. Lloyd also said while he spanked his children, he “never abused them,” Lloyd said. “It’s a fine line.” Lloyd has been held in jail without bond since December when he was charged with aggravated stalking for contacting his wife to “harass and intimidate” her in violation of his bond conditions. It was during a counseling session stemming from the impending divorce that the 15-year-old son first alleged that his father assaulted him with the gun, the boy testified. Before telling that counselor, the teen had told no one, not a friend, not his mother, nor the police, the son testified. It was the counselor who notified the Department of Family and Children Services, who then notified police, witnesses said. The teen said he didn’t report the incident when it happened in 2001 because he was afraid his mom would tell his father, angering him again. “I was just trying to keep her safe as well as myself,” the teen said. Lloyd’s wife, Rhonda Elaine Simmons Lloyd, testified that she left her husband after he performed a similar assault on her at the couple’s home in December 2002. She said Lloyd put a handgun to her head and threatened to kill her while the couple quarreled over their marital status. Lloyd denied ever putting a gun to his wife when he testified Tuesday. He said he pled no contest to the resulting criminal charges “to get this behind me.” He was sentenced to 12 months probation and fined $1,500. “Never have I put my hands on Rhonda’s neck, kicked her or anything,” Lloyd said. Mrs. Lloyd also told the jury that her husband also previously threatened that he hired someone to kill her. He testified Tuesday that he never uttered words to that effect. Although he retired in 1998 as a Carolina Panther, Lloyd was a 10-year veteran of the Steelers. As a linebacker for Pittsburgh, Lloyd played in five straight Pro Bowls from 1991-1995 and was twice named the team’s most valuable player.
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