Gazette Article 7/25/08: Vassell Backers Deluge Hearing

Vassell backers deluge hearing

Friday, July 25, 2008
NORTHAMPTON - Support for a former University of Massachusetts student accused of stabbing two men is strong, even during summer vacation.
Close to 150 people came to Hampshire Superior Court Thursday in a show of solidarity with Jason Vassell, whose attorneys maintain he was the victim of a hate crime acting in self-defense. Vassell, 24, of Boston, is black, while the two other men involved in the Feb. 3 incident are white.
Vassell faces two charges of aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and if convicted could face a total of 30 years in prison.

The occasion for the gathering was a pretrial hearing, which typically is a routine and uneventful proceeding attended only by lawyers and the defendant.

A handful of Vassell’s supporters found seats in Courtroom 2 for the brief afternoon session, after which court officers opened up the seldom-used Courtroom 1 to accommodate the crowd for a pow-wow with Vassell’s attorneys.

The impromptu rally had a mostly enthusiastic tone, tinged with some anxiety about Vassell’s future. “You’ve restored something of my confidence and my trust in the values of this community,” Ekwueme Mike Thelwell, a UMass professor of Afro-American studies and a Vassell supporter, told the gathering.

Vassell’s court dates have consistently drawn large audiences, including an estimated 200 who attended one in March and more than 50 at his Superior Court arraignment in April.

In May, more than 1,700 people signed a petition asking Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel to reconsider the case. Defense attorney David Hoose contends Vassell is the victim of an unprovoked, racist attack. The men he stabbed, Jonathan Bosse and John Bowes, forced their way into the McKimmie dormitory and broke Vassell’s nose, Hoose said.

Bowes, 20, of Hancock, N.H., faces charges in Eastern Hampshire District Court of aggravated assault and battery with intent to intimidate, disorderly conduct and a civil rights violation. Bosse, 19, of Milton, has not been charged with any crime.

Hoose on Thursday criticized the Northwestern district attorney’s office’s response to the episode, as he has in the past.
“It’s frankly nothing more than a sham prosecution,” he said of the case against Bowes. “It’s a joke.”
The assistant Northwestern district attorney in charge of Vassell’s case, Frank Flannery, recently left the office to join a private practice. Another prosecutor, Melissa Doran, who took over the case Thursday, said in an interview she was still getting up to speed, and declined to comment.
“Justice is not being served,” said Nicole Belanger, a UMass student from Worcester who wore a “Justice for Jason” T-shirt to the hearing.
Belanger said she was skeptical about the case when she first learned of it, but has come to believe Vassell was justified in his actions. “The DA’s decision on how to pursue the case needs to be reevaluated,” she said.
Juliet Carvajal, a UMass office manager, said she believed Bowes and Bosse should face harsher consequences. “It’s not doing a favor to the young men who perpetrated this,” she said. “It’s just giving them a green light to do it again.”
During Thursday’s hearing, Judge C. Brian McDonald lifted the midnight to 5 a.m. curfew Vassell has been under since April. Doran said she didn’t oppose this because Vassell has had no problems while free on $1,000 bail, and because his work schedule sometimes requires him to leave home in the very early morning. The case was continued for another pretrial hearing set for Sept. 8.
James F. Lowe can be reached at jlowe@gazettenet.com.