thedrifter
12-28-06, 07:20 AM
Despite acquittal, a former Marine remains bitter
By Douglas Belkin, Globe Staff | December 28, 2006
Six months after a jury acquitted Dan Cotnoir of two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, the 2005 Marine of the Year remains as furious at the Lawrence Police Department as he was the night he says it failed to do its job.
So angry is Cotnoir that he is moving his family and his business to Methuen. "Where I believe I will be protected," he said.
Cotnoir's crisis of confidence in the Police Department and the sour twist on "what should have been the best year of my life " came after he twice called police for help on Aug. 13, 2005. Scores of raucous clubgoers were making noise outside his home. Cotnoir warned them to leave. They refused. The scene escalated until someone threw a juice bottle through his second-floor bedroom window.
Cotnoir, who had recently served seven months in Iraq, responded by firing a shotgun in the direction of the crowd. The blast hit the ground, and fragments ricocheted into the mass of people. Two were injured, a 15-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man, neither seriously.
"If the Lawrence Police Department had come when I called them, none of it would have happened," Cotnoir said this month. "They are basically delinquents. They're like a football team run amok."
Lawrence Police Chief John Romero offers no apologies for the police response time the night of the shooting, saying there was a lieutenant clearing crowds a few blocks away .
"He was working his way toward the scene, but we have 70 alcohol licenses in the city," the chief said. "It takes time. We can't do them all at once.
"We're committed to protecting all the citizens of Lawrence, including Mr. Cotnoir and his family."
Cotnoir, a mortician, served in Iraq for seven months with the Marines Mortuary Affairs Unit, collecting the remains of soldiers killed in battle and by roadside bombs. His 20-person unit prepared the dead to be shipped back to the US for burial.
In an interview with the Globe 10 days after his return in November 2004, Cotnoir said that he took pride in his work, but that the stress of being in a war zone had taken its toll. Once back in Lawrence, he found himself nervously eyeing cars around him in traffic, looking for signs of an impending explosion. And he said he had become frustrated with how slowly things got done in civilian life as compared to the alacrity with which orders were carried out in the Marines.
In July of 2005, the 34-year-old father of two was named Marine of the Year by the Marine Corps Times.
"It should have been the best year of my life," he said. A month after, the bottle came through his window, and he pulled the trigger on his 12-gauge. He faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
What followed, he said, was more difficult to endure than his military service.
"In Iraq it's war, you know you're under attack," he said. "At home you relax, you don't expect it."
The trial, which ended June 29, cost Cotnoir hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys' fees, doctors' fees -- the state mandated a psychological evaluation, Cotnoir paid for his own -- and lost time at his family-owned funeral home. The damage to his reputation, he said, is inestimable.
While the trial was ongoing, he said, he received thousands of letters of support from around the country, many from people he did not know. After the trial was over, two jurors came over to hug him. A fund-raiser drew more than 600 people to raise money for his $50,000 defense bill.
Romero was not so cheerful. Immediately after the shooting, he revoked the gun permit Cotnoir had held since he was 21. After his acquittal, Cotnoir asked that it be reinstated. Romero refused. Cotnoir took him to court. A district court judge last month denied Cotnoir's appeal.
After serving with the Marines to protect his country, the insult was too much. Cotnoir is selling the Lawrence property where he lives and runs the funeral business his father started nearly 30 years ago. He is looking for property in Methuen. He said it was will cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebuild his business.
"But if I don't feel safe here, how can I expect the families who come here to feel safe?" Cotnoir said. The Lawrence police "don't protect the people they are paid to serve."
Of the two victims who were injured by the bullet fragments, Cotnoir said, he feels no remorse. If he had a chance to live that night over again, he would handle himself the same way.
"My family was under attack," he said.
He expects to move out of Lawrence within the next few months.
Douglas Belkin can be reached at dbelkin@globe.com.
Ellie
By Douglas Belkin, Globe Staff | December 28, 2006
Six months after a jury acquitted Dan Cotnoir of two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, the 2005 Marine of the Year remains as furious at the Lawrence Police Department as he was the night he says it failed to do its job.
So angry is Cotnoir that he is moving his family and his business to Methuen. "Where I believe I will be protected," he said.
Cotnoir's crisis of confidence in the Police Department and the sour twist on "what should have been the best year of my life " came after he twice called police for help on Aug. 13, 2005. Scores of raucous clubgoers were making noise outside his home. Cotnoir warned them to leave. They refused. The scene escalated until someone threw a juice bottle through his second-floor bedroom window.
Cotnoir, who had recently served seven months in Iraq, responded by firing a shotgun in the direction of the crowd. The blast hit the ground, and fragments ricocheted into the mass of people. Two were injured, a 15-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man, neither seriously.
"If the Lawrence Police Department had come when I called them, none of it would have happened," Cotnoir said this month. "They are basically delinquents. They're like a football team run amok."
Lawrence Police Chief John Romero offers no apologies for the police response time the night of the shooting, saying there was a lieutenant clearing crowds a few blocks away .
"He was working his way toward the scene, but we have 70 alcohol licenses in the city," the chief said. "It takes time. We can't do them all at once.
"We're committed to protecting all the citizens of Lawrence, including Mr. Cotnoir and his family."
Cotnoir, a mortician, served in Iraq for seven months with the Marines Mortuary Affairs Unit, collecting the remains of soldiers killed in battle and by roadside bombs. His 20-person unit prepared the dead to be shipped back to the US for burial.
In an interview with the Globe 10 days after his return in November 2004, Cotnoir said that he took pride in his work, but that the stress of being in a war zone had taken its toll. Once back in Lawrence, he found himself nervously eyeing cars around him in traffic, looking for signs of an impending explosion. And he said he had become frustrated with how slowly things got done in civilian life as compared to the alacrity with which orders were carried out in the Marines.
In July of 2005, the 34-year-old father of two was named Marine of the Year by the Marine Corps Times.
"It should have been the best year of my life," he said. A month after, the bottle came through his window, and he pulled the trigger on his 12-gauge. He faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
What followed, he said, was more difficult to endure than his military service.
"In Iraq it's war, you know you're under attack," he said. "At home you relax, you don't expect it."
The trial, which ended June 29, cost Cotnoir hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys' fees, doctors' fees -- the state mandated a psychological evaluation, Cotnoir paid for his own -- and lost time at his family-owned funeral home. The damage to his reputation, he said, is inestimable.
While the trial was ongoing, he said, he received thousands of letters of support from around the country, many from people he did not know. After the trial was over, two jurors came over to hug him. A fund-raiser drew more than 600 people to raise money for his $50,000 defense bill.
Romero was not so cheerful. Immediately after the shooting, he revoked the gun permit Cotnoir had held since he was 21. After his acquittal, Cotnoir asked that it be reinstated. Romero refused. Cotnoir took him to court. A district court judge last month denied Cotnoir's appeal.
After serving with the Marines to protect his country, the insult was too much. Cotnoir is selling the Lawrence property where he lives and runs the funeral business his father started nearly 30 years ago. He is looking for property in Methuen. He said it was will cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebuild his business.
"But if I don't feel safe here, how can I expect the families who come here to feel safe?" Cotnoir said. The Lawrence police "don't protect the people they are paid to serve."
Of the two victims who were injured by the bullet fragments, Cotnoir said, he feels no remorse. If he had a chance to live that night over again, he would handle himself the same way.
"My family was under attack," he said.
He expects to move out of Lawrence within the next few months.
Douglas Belkin can be reached at dbelkin@globe.com.
Ellie