The verdict reflected
reasonable doubt, the jury foreman said.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
NEW CASTLE — A woman who was charged with aggravated and simple assault after a struggle with a man who’s now the Lawrence County treasurer was acquitted on both charges Friday.
Jury foreman Joe Donofrio of New Castle said the jury believed there was no proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Fawn Cox, 28, of New Castle intended to harm Richard L. Rapone.
City police charged Cox after an altercation that happened outside her apartment at Westview Terrace on Beech Street on Oct. 26, 2006. Her trial began Thursday in county common pleas court after she could not agree earlier in the week to a lesser charge of harassment.
Rapone, who became county treasurer in January, was still at work at his old job as a collections agent for Pennsylvania Power’s Mill Street office in New Castle. He was at Cox’s apartment that day to shut off her power because she hadn’t paid her bill.
After Rapone turned off the power, he and Cox struggled in his car in the apartment complex parking lot.
In Pennsylvania, utility workers get the same protection as a police officer or jail guard under the assault laws. Police were able to charge Cox with the most serious of the assault charges, aggravated assault, after Rapone reported the altercation.
That charge and the charge of simple assault were too serious to apply to the situation, Cox’s attorney, public defender Harry Falls, had argued. He told the jury assembled in the courtroom of Judge Thomas Piccione that the altercation happened outside the scope of Rapone’s duties — he had shut off the power and was in his car getting ready to leave. He also argued that Cox never intended to harm Rapone, and that the struggle was mutual.
Cox testified that she had reached into Rapone’s car to shut off the ignition because she didn’t want him to leave before talking to a Penn Power representative who was on the phone in her apartment. She had been trying to arrange payment with the company when Rapone went to her meter and shut off her power, she testified.
She also testified that during his visit to her apartment, Rapone was rude and appeared not to care when she told him her 7-year-old daughter uses a breathing machine each night because of asthma. The machine requires electricity.
She said Penn Power told her on the phone that her electricity should not be shut off because of the girl’s need for the machine.
She said that when she tried to tell Rapone about her daughter’s asthma, he told her: “That sounds like a personal problem.”
Rapone testified that he was not rude, that he behaved in a professional manner throughout the visit and remained calm, even when Cox leaned into his car and the struggle began. He testifed that it was Cox, not him, who was verbally abusive throughout his visit to her apartment. He testified that at the car, she repeatedly hit and scratched him.
Judge Piccione told the jury that they had to consider whether there was evidence Cox had intended to harm Rapone as they were weighing each charge against her.
Donofrio said the verdict “came down to reasonable doubt.”
“There was not enough evidence she intended to harm [Rapone],” he said.
He said the jury saw evidence of scratches on Rapone in a photograph a police officer took of him after the altercation. He said they saw evidence in the photo that there might have been some bruising on his chin, but: “We couldn’t tell if it was serious.”
The jury believed Cox reached into Rapone’s car, Donofrio said, but both parties were defensive. “He pushed and she pushed,” he said.
Rapone did not go to a hospital after the altercation. He testified he went back to the Penn Power office and treated himself with a first aid kit, then called police.
Penn Power restored Cox’s power the same day he shut it off because of the daughter’s need for the breathing machine.
