'Goth' acquitted in bar brawl with bodybuilder
Date: 14-12-2006
Posted by: Anabolic Info TeamUnited States |
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It was a clash of two cultures in a West Milford bar.
But which of three young men clad in black, "Goth" clothing and piercings pummeled bodybuilder Sean Halaw three times with a bar stool? Not Alan Cortiana, according to a jury, which on Wednesday acquitted the 27-year-old West Milford resident on two counts of aggravated assault and one count of unlawful possession of a weapon -- that being the bar stool.
While the victim identified Cortiana as the one who beat him with the chair, the jury apparently accepted the defense's assertion that it was a case of mistaken identity, given that all three men had body piercings and were dressed in all black.
The jury did convict Cortiana on a lesser offense of petty disorderly persons fighting. State Superior Court Judge Ernest M. Caposela sentenced him to $250 in fines on that count immediately after the verdict was returned. Had Cortiano been convicted, he could have faced five to 10 years in prison.
Halaw, who acknowledged having used steroids as part of a bodybuilding regimen, testified during the weeklong trial that he had words with the men in black at McKeages Tavern before they viciously assaulted him on July 6, 2004. While some in the group were punching him, he said, defendant Cortiana threw a beer bottle at him before striking him three times in the head with a bar stool.
Halaw, of West Milford, testified that he still experiences short-term memory loss and has little sense of smell.
A neurosurgeon who cared for Halaw while he was in intensive care testified that he suffered two head fractures that allowed air to become trapped in his skull, making him vulnerable to contracting bacterial meningitis. The victim also suffered a broken nose, fractured eye sockets, cracked teeth and damaged sinuses, according to the state.
Halaw, 30, told of how he forgot seeing his child's report card just a day after seeing it, and of forgetting things as simple as local street names.
Cortiana and his friends left the bar immediately after the attack but were later tracked down following a police investigation.
Though Halaw did not know the defendant, he identified him two weeks after the beating through a high school yearbook police showed him that included Cortiana's graduation photograph. Cortiana's friends were also charged in connection with the assault, have since pleaded guilty and have received probation for their involvement in the fight.
"This is a case about an unmerciful beating," said Jason Harding, Passaic County assistant prosecutor, in his summation to jurors Wednesday.
The defense, meanwhile, argued that the case was, rather, one of mistaken identity. Defense attorney Joseph Donahue told jurors in his summation that all three co-defendants were between 6-foot-1 and 6-foot-2, all dressed in black, two with nose piercings and one with a lip ring. The victim was the state's only witness to identify Cortiana as the bar-stool-wielding participant in the fight, he noted.
Between that, and the victim's past use of steroids and human growth hormones and the memory loss that resulted from his injuries, Donahue questioned how Halaw could make such a positive identification.
"Steroids are illegal unless prescribed by a doctor. So are human growth hormones. He's basically shooting this stuff in his arm, hoping to get big. Who knows what the consequences are?" Donahue said. "To rely on Sean Halaw alone for this identification -- his testimony is not credible and you should reject it."
The defense also presented co-defendant Marlon Wilding as a witness. Wilding, who described his all-black outfit and tall black boots that hot summer night as Goth-type attire, said that the third co-defendant in the case -- Kevin Maher -- told him that he actually hit Halaw with the bar stool.
Wilding said he never actually saw anyone use a bar stool in the fight.
Cortiana took the stand in his own defense, testifying that he was off to the side fighting with other bar patrons and that he never struck Halaw at all.
