UPDATE: Howard and Mainini Case to Federal Court

A federal judge has ruled that two suspended blue devil football players will play in Friday’s game against Youngstown Ursuline.

The attorney representing Zanesville City Schools, Susan DiMickele, said the case is now pending in federal court, and a hearing will be held in the next few weeks.

She said the school district will honor the state court’s order, but the district is asking the federal court to enforce the policy and have Lucas Howard and Josh Mainini sit out for two additional games.

The boys’ lawyer, Herb Baker, said that the parents of Howard and Mainini believe their sons didn’t fully understand what they were signing when they entered into Zanesville’s code of conduct policy.

The policy was implemented on July 11th.  The parents also contest that they never saw the policy, and it wasn’t posted for them to review.

The suspensions stem from a party occurring at the Howard household on July 15th, one that resulted in the death of Zanesville incoming freshman 14-year-old Grant Hickman.

Two other players were suspended for their involvement in the incident and have served their time.