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Friday, July 28, 2000Urbina says he wasn't involvedMONTREAL (AP) -- Expos reliever Ugueth Urbina testified Friday he wasn't involved in a fight at a dance club, that it was his brother.Urbina, who hasn't pitched since he had surgery on his right elbow in May, is charged with assault causing bodily harm. He told his trial it was his younger brother, Ulmer, who was fighting with Eloy Ledesma last Sept. 7. "The two were punching each other," Ugueth Urbina told Quebec court Judge Francois Doyon. "I didn't see a lot of it," he said through a Spanish interpreter. "I didn't want to get involved." Doyon will deliver his judgment on Sept. 5. The 26-year-old reliever said newspaper reports wrongly identified him as being involved in the fight, but he didn't do anything about it. "I couldn't go to the police and say it was my brother and not me," the pitcher said. Ulmer Urbina, 20, has told court he was responsible for the punch that Ledesma claimed knocked him out for 12 hours. Ulmer Urbina bears a close resemblance to his brother. The younger Urbina pitches with the Expos' Class-A Vermont affiliate and was visiting Montreal at the time. Ledesma already has told the court he sent a lawyer's letter asking the baseball player for about $98,000 in damages. Ugueth Urbina said he didn't like going to the downtown club because he once saw a man pull out a pistol when he was there. The Expos' closer is earning $3.2 million this season and led the National League last year with 41 saves. He said he behaves like a "professional" and doesn't frequent any place where there's trouble. He said older brother Juan-Miguel, 27, and Ledesma had words several months earlier at another club. Ugueth Urbina said he tried to smooth things over with Ledesma. "I told him that we didn't come to this country looking for problems," he said, adding that he shook hands with Ledesma. Crown prosecutor Kathleen Caron said Ledesma knew Ugueth Urbina from the local club scene and wouldn't have confused him with his brother. Caron also said that despite testimony from the younger Urbina that he was responsible for the assault, neither he nor any other witness actually said that Ugueth Urbina didn't beat up Ledesma. Court was told earlier that Juan-Miguel Urbina and Ledesma had fallen out over a woman. Ugueth Urbina said he and Juan-Miguel went to the club after making a brief stop at another bar and earlier attending a party at the house of Expos outfielder Rondell White. They went to the Vertigo club after 2 a.m. because Ulmer had called to tell Juan-Miguel he was having problems with Ledesma. Ugueth Urbina said he and Ulmer didn't talk about the fight. He said he only noticed blood on Ulmer's clothes when they were ready to be washed. Claudia Meja, Ugueth Urbina's ex-girlfriend, testified Thursday that Ledesma told her it was Ulmer Urbina and not the Expos pitcher who beat him up. 
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