Judge to Soccer Ref Killer: You 'Personify Everything Wrong' in 'Escalation of Sports Violence"

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This story was updated with reaction at 2:10 p.m.

Bassel Saad will spend from eight to 15 years in prison for a single sucker punch to the throat that killed a referee in a rec league soccer game in Livonia last summer.

Saad, 37, of Dearborn, was sentenced Friday by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Cameron after striking a deal to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter for punching referee John Bieniewicz, 44. He died July 1, two days after the fatal punch.

Saad, who is not a U.S. citizen and could face deportation back to his native Lebanon, was originally charged with second-degree murder.

The lethal attack on the referee drew a global response, bringing increased scrutiny to violence in amateur sports that some participants have said is crippling participation.

During the sentencing, Cameron told Saad: You “personify everything that is wrong” with the “escalation of violence in sports,” the Detroit Free Press reports.

“You have through a childish, senseless act destroyed two families,” Cameron said.

Saad apologized to Bieniewicz’s family during the emotional sentencing hearing in which Reuters noted that even court officers appeared to be blinking back tears. He said that he had prayed daily for members of the referee’s family, several of whom testified at the sentencing hearing.

A sister of Bieniewicz said the senselessness of her brother’s death is “staggering.”

“He killed John. He killed our joy. The pain of losing John is indescribable,” she said.

The slain referee’s widow, Kristen Bieniewicz, flashed a red card – a symbol of an ejection-worthy transgression in soccer, similar to the one her husband had raised when Saad delivered the punch that instantly dropped him to the ground last June – and said she believed Saad should have been convicted of murder.

“My one saving grace in this is that my husband died doing what he loved,” she told Reuters.

In 2005, Saad faced a similar charges.

Catch up on this story on Patch:

• Rec League Soccer Ref in Critical Condition After ‘Terrifying’ Assault
• Michigan Soccer Ref Declared Dead After ‘Terrifying’ Assault by Player
• Global Response to Lethal Attack on Soccer Ref: ‘Why?’
• Saad, Accused in Soccer Ref’s Death, Bound Over for Trial
• Prosecutors Want 2005 Report of Soccer Fight in Saad’s Trial
• Man Accused of Fatally Punching Soccer Ref Gets New Judge
• Man Whose Sucker Punched Killed Soccer Ref Accepts Plea Deal