SKOWHEGAN — Andrew Maderios was found guilty Friday on four domestic violence charges, including two felony aggravated assault counts, in Somerset County Superior Court.
Attorneys on both sides of the case said after the verdicts that audio recordings of some of the attacks made by the victim – Maderios’ live-in girlfriend at the time – made the difference.
Maderios, 29, of Pittsfield, was found guilty of attacks on Jan. 25, 2014 and March 23, 2014, both of which the victim had recorded on her cellphone.
Maderios reacted with shock, turning pale and collapsing into a chair after the verdicts were read.
The 12-person jury deliberated for about two hours and 20 minutes before it came back with the verdicts on the former Nokomis High School music teacher, who was charged with beating, kicking and choking his girlfriend at the time over several months, from December 2013 to July 2014.
The victim documented those attacks at the Pittsfield home the couple shared with audio recordings and still photographs, all on her personal iPhone, which became key evidence in the five-day trial.
Maderios was found not guilty on two other felony aggravated assault charges and three lesser domestic violence charges, including obstructing the reporting of a crime.
BAIL CONTINUED
Maderios faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on each of the felony aggravated assault convictions and up to a year on each of the two misdemeanor convictions, District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said outside the courtroom afterward. A sentencing date hasn’t been set.
Maloney wouldn’t speculate about how much prison time she would seek during sentencing, noting that Maderios technically could face 22 years behind bars. She said sentencing on the four convictions could run consecutively or concurrently, depending on what the judge decides. There also is the possibility that portions of the sentences would be suspended in favor of probation.
Maloney asked the judge to revoke Maderios’ $10,000 cash bail because he is a flight risk and because the victim of the assaults was at risk of retaliation. “If he decides to take his own life, he could take her with him,” she said.
Superior Court Justice Robert Mullen said Maderios’ bail will continue, but with the stipulation that he be fitted with an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet, which will signal authorities if he goes anywhere near the victim’s home or workplace. Maderios was taken to the Somerset County Jail in East Madison to be fitted with the device.
Attorney Leonard Sharon said he expects to appeal the guilty verdicts. He said there were issues raised before Mullen in open court last week before the trial that pointed to similar previous behavior by the victim, whom the Morning Sentinel is not identifying because she is the victim of domestic abuse.
“The general motive was to take this guy down,” he said. Testimony about the victim’s alleged previous behavior was not allowed at Maderios’ trial because it would have called for “a trial within a trial,” with each side having to defend or rebuke her earlier activity, Sharon said.
‘ONE STEP AWAY FROM DEATH’
This trial, he said, only concerned the current indictments against him.
Family members of Maderios who sat through the trial appeared shocked and dismayed by the verdict, his sister collapsing in the courthouse hallway. Family members declined to comment.
Maderios had been portrayed by witnesses this week as a nonviolent music lover who cherished his family and desperately wanted one of his own.
The audio recordings proved otherwise, Maloney said.
“Strangulation is a class B felony for a reason – it is an aggravated assault because it is so dangerous,” she said. “It is one step away from death.”
The four convictions were on charges related to audio recordings captured by the victim on her cellphone as the assaults were taking place. The not guilty verdicts came on charges that had not been recorded.
VICTIM WILL BE SAFE
“The four guilty verdicts all had audio … that the victim was so smart that she pressed ‘record’ on her cellphone so she could document the abuse she was suffering,” Maloney said. “I applaud her for taking that step to be able to prove what she was going through – the reason she pressed ‘record’ on her cellphone is she thought he was going to kill her and she wanted to leave behind some documented evidence.”
Sharon said he feels strongly that Maderios is innocent. He said when the first three counts came back Friday with not guilty verdicts, he was encouraged but got “a jolt of energy” when the guilty verdicts were read.
“All the counts where there was no (audio) tape, he was acquitted,” Sharon said. “And all the counts where there was a tape, he was convicted.
“When I first heard the tapes, I said it was going to be hard to overcome this,” he said. “In retrospect, the biggest problem was the statements Andrew made on the tapes.”
Maderios could be heard saying, “I didn’t slam your head that hard” and “You go after what’s most hurtful for me, and I go after what’s most hurtful for you,” which was her neck.
Maloney said she considered the verdicts to be a victory because the victim will be safe.
The victim is happy that the jury believed her, Maloney said, and happy that the jury is “going to hold Andrew accountable for the torture session he put her through.”
In her closing argument Friday morning, Maloney said Maderios’ girlfriend suffered beatings, kicking and strangulation at the hands of Maderios.
Despite Maderios’ claim of innocence, Maloney said, the two graphic audio recordings of the assaults and many photographs of the scrapes and bruises she suffered were credible.
Sharon had claimed that Maderios was the victim of an elaborate scheme by the woman and that he, not she, was the victim.
‘WHO’S THE ABUSER?’
“Who’s the abuser? Who’s the abused?” Maloney said to the jury. “You decide who to believe.”
Maderios was indicted on nine charges alleging he beat, kicked and strangled his then-live-in girlfriend over two years, ending with a protection from abuse order by the court in August 2014. He was arrested on a warrant the same month.
Maderios, who took the stand Wednesday, denied all of the charges. Sharon said the woman told Maderios she would ruin him if he ever told her to leave.
In his closing argument, Sharon began by yelling in a high-pitched voice into a cellphone, mockingly reporting that he had offended the judge and was being attacked.
Sharon then played the recording back to the jury. “It’s that easy,” he told them, but the jury was not convinced.
In his closing argument, Sharon displayed scales of justice as he told jurors that there was no real evidence against his client and that the only thing the state had were unreliable audio recordings and iPhone pictures.
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