Mahoney Brothers Assault Trial Altmar, NY -- A trial of two brothers accused of kicking and punching a man who was fishing on the Salmon River ended Monday before it could really get started because the judge ran out of jurors. Albion Town Justice Howard Allen Jr. dismissed the three jurors who had been selected when they ran out of...
Altmar, NY -- A trial of two brothers accused of kicking and punching a man who was fishing on the Salmon River ended Monday before it could really get started because the judge ran out of jurors.
Albion Town Justice Howard Allen Jr. dismissed the three jurors who had been selected when they ran out of possible jurors. The justice needed six jurors and an alternate to proceed with the trial. No new date has been set for the trial.
It could take a month or up to six months to reschedule the trial, so it wasn’t possible to keep the three jurors waiting, Allen said. Waiting that long, the jurors could talk to people or hear about the case, he said.
The justice had requested 30 jurors, but only 14 showed up. Only three jurors were selected from that pool of 14 people; the others were disqualified or dismissed.
Police charged Patrick A. Mahoney, 42, of state Route 13, Altmar, and Robert R. Mahoney III, 45, of county Route 15, Boylston, each with misdemeanor counts of assault and petit larceny and an environmental conservation charge of fighting in a fishing access area.
They are accused of assaulting William Murray, 62, of Ithaca, while he was fishing the river about 4 p.m. April 8. Watertown lawyer David Antonucci, who represents the Mahoneys, said Murray was the aggressor in the altercation and his clients were defending themselves.