ROCKLAND, Maine — A Rockland man who narrowly lost a seat on the City Council two years ago pleaded guilty Thursday to a disorderly conduct charge, ending a two-day domestic violence assault trial.
The jury had deliberated for more than four hours over two days on the assault charge when 25-year-old Theodore Berry agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct in exchange for the assault charge being dropped. The jury had notified the judge that they were deadlocked on the assault charge.
Justice William Stokes accepted an agreement reached between Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Baroody and defense attorney Thomas Connolly in which Berry was fined $500 on the lesser charge.
Baroody had prosecuted the assault case and told jurors in his opening statements Wednesday that Berry was a jealous man who let his jealousy and anger overcome him.
The prosecution played a tape of the 911 call to the Knox County Regional Dispatch Center on the night of May 10, 2015, in which the alleged victim twice told the dispatcher that Berry had pushed her.
The tape initially was ruled inadmissible last year by Justice Daniel Billings but he reconsidered at the request of the prosecution and ruled in April it could be used.
Witness Kelly Sweet, who had dated the alleged victim, testified during Wednesday’s jury trial that he and the woman went to Berry’s apartment at the Thorndike apartments in Rockland to clean it after she had moved out her belongings. The woman and Berry had lived in the apartment together.
When Sweet and the woman entered, the apartment was dark. Sweet said he then heard a click and Berry was standing in the apartment taking photos of him. He said Berry then claimed that Sweet had broken into his apartment and Berry ran out of the residence into the hallway with the woman following him.
Sweet said he then heard a thump and went out in the hallway where the woman was on the floor, holding her ankle and crying. He said Berry told people in the hallway to call the police, claiming Sweet had broken into his apartment.
Rockland police Officer Jacob Shirey testified that when he arrived at the apartment, Berry told the woman that she did not have to talk to the police.
Defense attorney Thomas Connolly urged jurors not to get caught up in the drama of the case.
“The evidence is pretty lean,” Connolly said.
The defense attorney said that the woman had chased Berry out of the apartment and she was upset that he had taken photos of Sweet in the apartment. The woman then grabbed the back of Berry’s T-shirt, ripping it, Connolly told the jurors in his opening statement.
The alleged victim did not testify and has attempted unsuccessfully to have the state drop the case. She also posted two videos on YouTube in which she criticizes the prosecution for pursuing the charge.
Stokes, the prosecutor and defense attorney spent considerable time Wednesday with the jury out of the courtroom arguing over whether the videos should be shown to jurors. Connolly argued that they should be seen by jurors. The prosecutor said if such statements were allowed in without the witness testifying, he should be allowed to present statements she made to police. Billings had ruled those statements could not be used if the woman did not testify since the defense would not have had the ability to cross-examine her.
In the end, the videos were not presented to the jurors.
Baroody said it not uncommon in domestic violence assault cases for a victim to try to recant her allegations. He said the woman has been on a campaign to discredit the state’s case, going so far as to file a federal lawsuit against Baroody, District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau, Judge Patricia Worth and the city of Rockland. The lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge in December.
Berry failed in an attempt before Worth in June 2015 to have court documents in his case sealed.