Last week Sixth Judicial District Judge Michael Cuzzo rejected an appeal by the attorney representing Mark Pavelich to have evidence found in the search of the hockey star’s house dismissed.
Cuzzo also rejected a plea to dismiss two of four felony counts against the 1980 Miracle on Ice hockey star who allegedly assaulted his neighbor with a metal pole following an August 15, 2019 fishing outing.
This past October, Duluth based defense attorney Chris Stocke asked the Judge to dismiss two counts alleging Pavelich possessed two firearms with missing serial numbers because he argued that law enforcement didn’t have proper cause to search the house.
Pavelich was arrested after his neighbor, James T. Miller, 63, said he was attacked after a fishing outing. Miller, who suffered numerous injuries and had to be hospitalized, alleged Pavelich assaulted him with a metal pole because Mark believed Miller had spiked his beer.
Two Cook County Sheriff ’s deputies and a U.S. Forest Service officer were called to the scene, and after receiving a court-approved search of the house, the officers entered the dwelling and found several guns and what looked like a booby trap. Two guns lacked serial numbers and one gun’s barrel had been shortened. While Miller was taken to the hospital, Pavelich was arrested and taken to jail.
Mark Pavelich, a star forward on the 1980 Olympic team that defeated the Soviet Union in the “Miracle on Ice” hockey game, was first arraigned in District Court in Grand Marais on Monday, August 19, 2019.
On October 28, 2019, Judge Cuzzo found Pavelich to be mentally incompetent to stand trial, and he was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation. Duluth psychologist Dr. Chris Bowerman and Dr. Jacquiline Buffington each met with Pavelich and examined him.
After weighing testimony from the two court-appointed psychologists, Cuzzo found Pavelich to be “mentally ill and dangerous” and ordered civil commitment at Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter, Minnesota. Last September, Mark was transferred from St. Peter to a less-restrictive facility in Sauk Centre.
During the October hearing, Stocke argued that the evidence found inside of Mark’s house should be inadmissible because the alleged crime happened in the driveway, and there wasn’t probable cause to search the out-buildings, grounds and the house. Judge Cuzzo countered by telling Stocke that the officer’s had received a court order allowing them to search the house and grounds.
On December 22, a settlement conference was scheduled in Cook County District court. Pending deposition, Pavelich is charged with assault in the Second degree; assault in the Third degree; firearms serial number-receive/ possess and receiving or possessing a firearm with a missing or altered serial number.
The early years
A high school hockey star at Eveleth High School, Mark played three years for the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs where he earned All America honors. He left college early after being selected to play on the U.S Olympic hockey team.
Following the Olympics, the New York Rangers drafted Mark, where he played for his Olympic coach, fellow Minnesotan Herb Brooks. Mark also played hockey professionally overseas, eventually moving to Lutsen, where he met and married Cara Burmacheck. He and Cara lived a quiet life. Cara died in 2012 after falling from the couple’s second-story deck. Mark, who had been married earlier to another woman and had a child, never remarried after losing Cara.
On the ice, Pavelich, standing 5’7” and weighing 160 pounds, was fearless. He was noted for going into the corners to fight for the puck against much bigger players and he suffered a lot of hits to the head. His family believes Mark suffers from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is a neurodegenerative disease found in professional football players and in professional hockey players who suffered from repeated head trauma.
CTE affects moods and memory; people who suffer from it can become disoriented and angered easily. To date, the disease can only be diagnosed posthumously.
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