Judge sends ex-Bucknell coach's manslaughter case to trial — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Judge Jeffrey L. Mensch of the Union County Magisterial District Court ruled Friday to let the case proceed and scheduled trial to begin Nov. 2.
- Mark Kulbis, Bucknell's former strength and conditioning coach, faces felony aggravated hazing plus misdemeanor counts of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and hazing for the July 2024 death of 18-year-old freshman Calvin 'CJ' Dickey Jr.
- Kulbis forced Dickey and other players through 100 up-downs and several full-body plank drills during a July 2024 workout 'in spite of training and direction from other coaches that such exercises were not appropriate or safe,' according to the attorney general's office.
- Montour County coroner Scott E. Lynn testified he initially attributed Dickey's death to natural causes (dilated cardiomyopathy complicated by rhabdomyolysis) but amended the death certificate in June to add 'stress-induced sickle cell crisis' and 'forced physical exertion,' telling the court 'someone else's actions caused this to occur.'
- Senior Deputy Attorney General Jaime Keating presented evidence that Kulbis had been trained on hazing, sickle-cell trait, and rhabdo and knew Dickey had tested positive for sickle-cell trait, arguing Kulbis 'ignored his education' and imposed a 'punishment workout.'
- Defense attorney Barbara Zemlock argued the 911 call should shield Kulbis from the hazing charges under Pennsylvania's anti-hazing law's emergency-help immunity provision; Mensch said the immunity question was beyond his purview at the preliminary hearing stage.
Why it matters: The judge deferred — but did not reject — Kulbis's immunity argument under Pennsylvania's anti-hazing law, leaving the question of whether calling 911 shields a coach who both instigated and reported a hazing crisis for trial, which could set a precedent for how broadly the statute's emergency-help carve-out applies to athletic-program defendants.
Ask SkimNews
