Man gets year jail for one punch death near ball park

A San Carlos man pleaded guilty Thursday to involuntary manslaughter for the one-punch death of another man in a fight outside San Francisco’s AT&T Park during a San Francisco Giants game in 2008, a prosecutor said.

Taylor Buckley agreed to a plea bargain yesterday morning that includes one year in jail and five years of probation for his role in the death of 18-year-old Anthony Giraudo on May 9, 2008, San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Brian Buckelew said.

Buckley, who was also 18 at the time, punched Giraudo in the heat of an argument outside the stadium during the Giants game.

Giraudo, a baseball player who had been attending Cañada College in Redwood City, fell and struck his head on the pavement, and died the next day at San Francisco General Hospital.

Prosecutors contend Buckley sucker-punched Giraudo once on the side of the face with a closed fist, but did not charge Buckley with murder because the killing was deemed not to have occurred with malice.

Buckley’s attorney, Douglas Horngrad, has said his client did not intend to kill Giraudo and has called the incident "a tragic accident.”

Buckley initially pleaded not guilty to the involuntary manslaughter charge, but agreed to the plea deal at a hearing Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court that was attended by members of both his family and Giraudo’s, Buckelew said.

Buckley was out of custody prior to yesterday’s hearing, but was handcuffed and remanded into custody after accepting the plea deal, Buckelew said.

Formal sentencing in the case is scheduled for March 22.