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Suspect in ballpark death waits for charges


Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 13, 2008





(05-12) 18:19 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- As he waits for prosecutors to decide on possible criminal charges, the 18-year-old high school student arrested in the death of a young San Francisco Giants fan outside AT&T Park is devastated by what happened, his attorney said Monday.
Taylor Buckley, a San Carlos resident and senior at Carlmont High School in Belmont, was jailed Saturday on suspicion of murder in the death of 18-year-old Anthony Giraudo, a first-year student at Cañada College in Redwood City.
Police said Buckley punched Giraudo during an argument Friday night outside the gates in center field, causing Giraudo to fall, hit his head on concrete and suffer a fatal brain injury. Giraudo and a few friends had been leaving the ballpark near the end of a game between the Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies.
Giraudo was pronounced dead Saturday at San Francisco General Hospital.
Prosecutors are expected to decide today or Wednesday whether to file charges. A spokeswoman for District Attorney Kamala Harris said Monday that the office had not yet received the case from police homicide inspectors.
San Francisco jail officials said Buckley was under psychiatric observation. His bail has been set at $1 million.
"He's expressed to me, and his family has expressed to me, that it's a tragedy," said Buckley's attorney, Douglas Horngrad. "He's a young man who has plans to attend college in Arizona. He's devastated by what happened. He comes from a good family with long Bay Area ties."
Buckley was a football player on the Carlmont team last season. His father, contacted at the family's home Monday, declined to talk about the case.
Giraudo graduated last year from Woodside High School. He was a pitcher on the Cañada College baseball team, his father said.
The funeral for Giraudo will be at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Pius Catholic Church, 1100 Woodside Road in Redwood City.

Heres the original story

05-11) 16:21 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- An 18-year-old San Francisco Giants fan leaving Friday night's game at AT&T Park died after he was punched in the head during an argument just outside the gates, then fell over and struck his head on the ground, police said Sunday.
A second 18-year-old who allegedly threw the punch was arrested and jailed on suspicion of murder.
The victim, Anthony Giraudo, was a longtime Giants fan who often used his family's season tickets. He graduated last year from Woodside High School and attended Cañada College in Redwood City, where he pitched on the baseball team and was in the process of recovering from an arm injury, said his grieving father, Robert Giraudo.
The teen's mother, Sheri Giraudo, and father spent Mother's Day at San Francisco General Hospital, where their son's organs were donated and where dozens of relatives and friends streamed in to pay their respects.
"It's a parent's worst nightmare, and you never think it's going to happen," Robert Giraudo said. "Nobody can quite figure out how this could happen. How can his life be over over something so trivial, something that didn't even matter?"
San Francisco police spokesman Sgt. Neville Gittens said Giraudo got into an argument about 9:45 p.m. in Seals Plaza, which is just outside the ballpark beyond center field, near the ferry landing. The Giants played Philadelphia at 7:15 on Friday night, and the game was not over when the incident happened.
"It's unclear whether the suspect was part of the argument or whether he just punched the victim," Gittens said.
Anthony Giraudo fell and hit his head on concrete, Gittens said. He was rushed to San Francisco General Hospital with a severe brain injury, his father said.
Robert Giraudo said he had been told that his son was punched from behind after objecting to something that had been said to a female friend. Giraudo was in a group of five friends who were leaving the game, the father said.
Gittens identified the suspect as Taylor Buckley, 18, of San Carlos. He was arrested for aggravated assault at the ballpark, then made bail and was soon released.
When Giraudo was pronounced dead at noon Saturday, homicide inspectors obtained a $1 million arrest warrant charging murder; Buckley turned himself in at the San Francisco Hall of Justice at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Gittens said. Attempts to reach Buckley's family were unsuccessful.
Anthony Giraudo, who is also survived by an older brother and sister, was remembered Sunday by friends and relatives as an exuberant, magnetic lover of baseball who was known to make people laugh with impressions but would also occasionally break into tears in tough situations.
"Anthony was very loved and very spoiled," his father said. "I did things for him I probably shouldn't have. I bought him an Infiniti G35 sedan just for being a great kid. The bond we had, I can't even explain it. Everything I did in my life, he did and did it better."
"Nobody really wants to believe it," said Corey Zirbes, who played with Giraudo in college after meeting him years earlier in Little League in Redwood City. "He was a great kid, one of the nicest kids I've ever met, and one of my best friends."
Giraudo's death comes almost four years after another Redwood City resident, 21-year-old Timothy Griffith, was fatally stabbed just outside the ballpark in September 2004 after he witnessed Barry Bonds' 700th career home run. A 26-year-old man who said he acted in self-defense during a fight is now on trial for murder.
Staci Slaughter, a spokeswoman for the Giants, called the death a "horrible tragedy."
"Our hearts and prayers are with the family of the young man," Slaughter said. "Fan safety is always our No. 1 priority. We've been fortunate to have very few incidents here over the years, but one tragedy is too many, and we'll redouble our efforts to work with Chief (Heather) Fong and the San Francisco Police Department to ensure this never happens again."
Anthony Giraudo's family is planning to hold a rosary at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at St. Pius Catholic Church in Redwood City, 1100 Woodside Road. A funeral will be held at the same location the following day at 11 a.m.

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