thedrifter
06-29-06, 01:10 PM
June 29, 2006
Prosecutor: Don’t give Marine ‘extra points’ for service
By Ken Maguire
Associated Press
SALEM, Mass. — A prosecutor told jurors Thursday not to give an Iraq war veteran “extra points” for his impressive military service when considering his fate on charges he shot and injured two club-goers outside his house last August.
Sgt. Daniel Cotnoir, a 34-year-old reservist named last year’s “Marine of the Year,” fired into a raucous crowd that had left two Lawrence nightclubs. The shell broke into fragments, which struck two people.
“Don’t give him extra points because he was in Iraq,” prosecutor John Dawley said in closing arguments at Salem Superior Court. “He is basically a good guy. But this is not a case about making someone a bad guy. Good people do bad things. Good people occasionally have monumental lapses of judgment.”
Cotnoir is charged with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Jurors began deliberations just before 11 a.m. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
Defense attorney Robert Lewin asked jurors to put themselves in Cotnoir’s shoes, noting a bottle was thrown through Cotnoir’s bedroom window at about 3 a.m. while his children slept upstairs.
“You really have to try to put yourself in his room that night,” Lewin said. “How do you think you’d feel?”
Lewin also pointed to a prior incident during which someone fired a gun at Cotnoir’s house.
“Consider not only what happened that morning, but also the history of violence in that parking lot,” he said.
Lewin, who spoke before Dawley, said “we’re not looking for your sympathy.” He also pointed out a military article describing Cotnoir’s Marine of the Year award.
Cotnoir, who served eight months in Iraq in 2004, helped create a mortician’s unit for the Marine Corps, for which he was credited in winning the Marine of the Year award. He and his wife, Mary Kate, accepted the award in Washington, D.C., one month before the shooting.
Cotnoir’s house, which is also his family’s funeral parlor, overlooks a parking lot that sits across from two nightclubs. After the clubs let out at 2 a.m. on Aug. 13, 2005, revelers cranked their music and were singing and dancing.
Cotnoir testified he felt “under attack” after a bottle was thrown through his window minutes after he called police to complain. He said he was in fear of his family’s safety when he grabbed a rifle and fired a shot into what he said was a clear area.
The shell struck a curb and shattered into fragments, striking Kevin Castillo, 21, and Lissette Cumba, 15, both of Lowell.
Ellie
Prosecutor: Don’t give Marine ‘extra points’ for service
By Ken Maguire
Associated Press
SALEM, Mass. — A prosecutor told jurors Thursday not to give an Iraq war veteran “extra points” for his impressive military service when considering his fate on charges he shot and injured two club-goers outside his house last August.
Sgt. Daniel Cotnoir, a 34-year-old reservist named last year’s “Marine of the Year,” fired into a raucous crowd that had left two Lawrence nightclubs. The shell broke into fragments, which struck two people.
“Don’t give him extra points because he was in Iraq,” prosecutor John Dawley said in closing arguments at Salem Superior Court. “He is basically a good guy. But this is not a case about making someone a bad guy. Good people do bad things. Good people occasionally have monumental lapses of judgment.”
Cotnoir is charged with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Jurors began deliberations just before 11 a.m. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
Defense attorney Robert Lewin asked jurors to put themselves in Cotnoir’s shoes, noting a bottle was thrown through Cotnoir’s bedroom window at about 3 a.m. while his children slept upstairs.
“You really have to try to put yourself in his room that night,” Lewin said. “How do you think you’d feel?”
Lewin also pointed to a prior incident during which someone fired a gun at Cotnoir’s house.
“Consider not only what happened that morning, but also the history of violence in that parking lot,” he said.
Lewin, who spoke before Dawley, said “we’re not looking for your sympathy.” He also pointed out a military article describing Cotnoir’s Marine of the Year award.
Cotnoir, who served eight months in Iraq in 2004, helped create a mortician’s unit for the Marine Corps, for which he was credited in winning the Marine of the Year award. He and his wife, Mary Kate, accepted the award in Washington, D.C., one month before the shooting.
Cotnoir’s house, which is also his family’s funeral parlor, overlooks a parking lot that sits across from two nightclubs. After the clubs let out at 2 a.m. on Aug. 13, 2005, revelers cranked their music and were singing and dancing.
Cotnoir testified he felt “under attack” after a bottle was thrown through his window minutes after he called police to complain. He said he was in fear of his family’s safety when he grabbed a rifle and fired a shot into what he said was a clear area.
The shell struck a curb and shattered into fragments, striking Kevin Castillo, 21, and Lissette Cumba, 15, both of Lowell.
Ellie