Tony Limon used to be a high school basketball player in San Antonio. But the teen's most recent uniform - until being released last week on $30,000 bond pending his appeal - was issued by the state of Texas. That's because Limon, 18, was prosecuted and convicted of criminal wrongdoing for breaking an opponent's nose with an ill-intentioned elbow during a game last year.

	Dontrelle Willis of Encinal High (Calif.) says "to intentionally hurt someone on the field is wrong."

There were additional factors in the case, not the least of which was Limon's prior criminal record, but his five-year sentence for assault added to an already smoldering hotbed of debate. Should athletes who commit unsportsmanlike and rule-breaking acts in the sporting arena be considered lawbreakers, and therefore subject to legal prosecution?

To some, the issue is as tangled as a kite in a hurricane. To others, it's crystal clear.

"To me, it's simple. If kids think they're going to get away with something, they're going to do it," says Art Taylor, Director of Urban Youth Sports at Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society. "So you have to make it a big issue when somebody crosses the line. Sort of like public flogging or putting them in the stock. Why would sports ever be above the law? There's nobody who's exempt from unlawful conduct. Athletes have to be looked at the same as everybody else."

Case closed, right? Not exactly. U.S. case history suggests acts of violence that occur during the heat of battle in the sports arena are not traditionally prosecuted.

That said, several recent high-profile cases have reignited the topic.

On the scholastic and youth levels, playing fields and ice rinks have been littered of late with instances of violence as bizarre as they are reprehensible. In addition to Limon's case, a 15-year-old Chicago boy was ordered on May 5 to stand trial on assault charges for a hit from behind in the closing seconds of a blowout high school hockey loss that left an opposing player, 15-year-old Neal Goss, paralyzed. An Athens High (Athens, Texas) soccer player was arrested in April on felony and misdemeanor assault charges for kicking Palestine High (Palestine, Texas) coach Sam McCutchen into unconsciousness during an on-the-field melee March 3. According to The Associated Press, the 17-year-old soccer player is awaiting a court date.

The list goes on and on. In February, two high school basketball teams from Mobile, Ala., received fines and probation for a fight that took place during an area championship game. This past November, former Somerville High (Somerville, Mass.) hockey player Joe Vincente, 19, pleaded guilty to repeatedly punching referee Brian Sullivan, who also happens to be a state trooper, after an on-the-ice fight during a 1999 postseason tournament game against Canton High (Canton, Mass.). Vincente was sentenced to one year of supervised probation and 50 hours of community service.

Far more publicized was the 1996 case of an Albuquerque, N.M., football player who was expelled from school for wearing helmet buckles sharpened by his father, who was, in turn, sentenced to community service.

"Everybody's competitive at sports' highest levels and will do anything to win," says Encinal High (Alameda, Calif.) left-hander Dontrelle Willis, a possible pick in pro baseball's June Amateur Draft. "But no matter how bad it is to lose, doing something to intentionally hurt someone on the field is wrong. I'd be embarrassed to even be accused of something like that. If making players criminally liable is what they have to do to stop stuff like that, so be it."

Start early

Recent evidence suggests that intent to injure isn't restricted to high school fields and above. Last month, a former Pennsylvania police officer was convicted of soliciting assault for offering a 10-year-old Little League pitcher $2 to intentionally hit an opposing batter. In January, a parent-coach confrontation during a wrestling match between two 6-year-olds resulted in a broken nose and a call to the Kirkland Police Department in Washington.

Even so, setting any across-the-board legal precedent regarding such incidents is most likely to happen at professional levels before trickling down. Perhaps most notable is the current case of Boston Bruins defenseman Marty McSorley, who is under indictment by Canadian authorities for assault with a dangerous weapon (his stick) after slashing Vancouver Canucks wing Donald Brashear in the face. Brashear got a severe concussion. McSorley got a trial date of Oct. 2.

"The problem is, where do you draw the line?" says attorney Paul Kelly of the Boston law firm Foley Hoag & Eliot, which is handling McSorley's defense. "There are so many situations in all of professional sports where if you remove them from the arena and put them on the sidewalk, technically they would be crimes, whether it be a brushback pitch or an auto racer driving another guy into the wall. That's all part of the competition and the entertainment, which has never historically been prosecuted."

For the record, no jury has ever convicted a professional hockey player of criminal wrongdoing. Former Minnesota North Stars enforcer Dino Ciccarelli did plead guilty to assault charges for an on-the-ice infraction in 1988 and was sentenced to one day in jail.

But Kelly, a former federal prosecutor, is one of many informed observers who believe attempts to regulate violence in sports puts lawmakers and the legal system on a very slippery slope.

"It's a dangerous area, and if my client were convicted it would set a negative precedent," says Kelly. "Professional sports leagues are really better off policing themselves. They know what's acceptable and what's not. Actions like Marty's, though inappropriate, shouldn't expose him to a jail term."

Medford High (Medford, Mass.) ice hockey coach Charlie Driscoll, who coached against Vincente's Somerville team in the Greater Boston League, disagrees.

"In the heat of battle, a high stick can happen. But for a two-hander off the noggin, you've got to be held accountable," says Driscoll of the McSorley incident. "The problem has been the inconsistency. Put it in the book. In high school, if you do this, you're gone for two games. You do that, you're gone for a year. I agree it should also be: You do this, the DA (District Attorney) might be calling you."

At the heart of the issue is the concept of consent - that athletes in contact sports assume various risks and consent to physical contact just by participating. In fact, the legal U.S. definitions of assault (a willful attempt or threat to inflict injury) and battery (a willful act resulting in injury) only apply if the actions occurred without the other party's consent. In other words, a boxer wouldn't have much of a battery case, considering he agreed to get punched in the first place.

Even a recently paroled Mike Tyson wasn't prosecuted for biting off a portion of Evander Holyfield's right ear before being disqualified from their 1997 heavyweight title bout. Still, there are those who feel the boundary between an unsportsmanlike and an unlawful act isn't always fuzzy. Saugus High (Saugus, Mass.) right-handed ace Alexis Lawrence, one of the hardest throwers in eastern Massachusetts, is among them.

"Kids take bats every day and use them in assaults," says Lawrence, a senior who will play at Division III power Wheaton College (Norton, Mass.) next year. "Just because it happens in a game doesn't matter. They should be liable for the same punishment. If you whip a ball at somebody's head trying to hurt them, it shouldn't matter if it happens on a field or not. I definitely think athletes should be punished like a criminal if they commit a criminal act."