Newark Man Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Little League Official

A city man may have avoided jail time by abruptly pleading guilty Wednesday to assaulting a Little League baseball official during a game two years ago, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said Wednesday. 

The jury began deliberations Tuesday in the trial of Henry Milstrey, 46, after hearing two weeks of testimony.

Milstrey had been charged with attacking Robert Waters during a Little League game June 8, 2011. Waters, a 51-year-old Newark resident, is president of the league and was serving as an umpire during the game between Newark and Irvington in Vailsburg Park.

Milstrey admitted he attacked Waters for failing to end the game due to darkness, and also encouraging 16 others to go after Waters, whose front teeth were knocked out during the assault. He also suffered a fractured skull and still has hearing loss and facial numbness from the attack, Assistant Prosecutor Gregg Brown said.

A few months before the attack, Waters had banned Milstrey, a former coach, from Little League games because Milstrey used profanity in front of the young players, Waters has said. 

If he had been convicted by the jury, Milstrey would have been incarcerated for up to 10 years, the prosecutor’s office said. He is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 12.