This case, from October of 2016, highlights the reason why it is very important to speak with an aggressive and competent defense attorney before deciding to accept any plea deals offered by the State:
NASHUA – Members of the jury in the assault trial of Gregory B. Mauti last week acquitted the Massachusetts landscaping company owner of charges accusing him of fracturing an employee's nose and knocking him out last year in Hudson.
The jury took only about an hour to reach verdicts of not guilty on the charges, which include one count each of second-degree assault, a felony, and simple assault, a misdemeanor.
The verdicts, delivered Thursday in Hillsborough County Superior Court South, capped a two-day trial in which Justin Daigle, the man whom Mauti had been charged with assaulting, testified at length.
Police charged Mauti, 34, of 15 Moore Ave., Westford, Mass., with assault after investigating a Sept. 4, 2015, confrontation between him and Daigle that, the parties agree, turned physical and led to Daigle losing consciousness and seeking hospital treatment for a broken nose and a cut to his head that he said needed six stitches to close.
At issue was whether Daigle threw the first punch, fell to the ground and hit his head, as Mauti and his attorney, Joseph Fricano, argued, or if Mauti punched Daigle, breaking his nose, causing him to fall, strike his head and lose consciousness.
The argument broke out when the two men met at the Hudson Quarry, a landscape and masonry materials supply house off of Derry Road in the northern part of Hudson.
The subject was money, with Daigle insisting that Mauti confronted him, reached into his pocket, took out wad of cash, kept some and threw the remainder back at Daigle.
Mauti, meanwhile, said that Daigle owed him $80, the amount Mauti said he counted from the wad of $120 and returned the remaining $40 to Daigle.
Mauti said the reason the argument turned physical is that Daigle allegedly threatened "to (expletive) with Mauti's family," according to the charges and testimony.
Mauti remained on the scene as police and medical personnel arrived and began treating Daigle, and after speaking with police they went their separate ways.
Daigle said he declined transport by ambulance, instead calling his mother to take him to the hospital.
Police investigated and eventually charged Mauti with assault.