Feliciano is accused of beating Rolando Rivera at Rivera's Springfield apartment.
05.16.2011 | WESTFIELD – Former Springfield Police patrolman Danilo Feliciano in Westfield District Court on Monday. Updates a story posted Monday at 1:44 p.m.
WESTFIELD – Jury selection will continue Tuesday morning in Westfield District Court, with an assault trial staring later in the day, for former Springfield Police officer Danilo Feliciano.
Feliciano is accused of beating Rolando E. Rivera, then 19, of 73 School St., Springfield, on Sept. 24, 2009 at Rivera’s apartment. Feliciano, who was fired as a result of the incident by Springfield Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet in March 2010, denied the assault change at his January 2010 court arraignment.
Feliciano was a nine-year veteran of the Springfield Police Department before being fired.
Frequent delays and a short jury pool delayed the start of the trial Monday before Judge Philip A. Contant. The delays, for procedural issues and other court business, were due to Contant being the only judge sitting in Westfield on Monday.
Twenty prospective jurors were scheduled for the jury pool Monday, but only 17 appeared in court. Of those, nine were immediately dismissed for various reasons. Another three were dismissed during the challenge process.
“I am afraid we ran out of jurors and need another panel to select additional jurors,” Contant said as he instructed the five remaining jurors to return to court at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday.
Contant told assistant Hampden District Attorney David Gagne and defense attorney Robert C. Butler that eight jurors will be impaneled for the trial. Two of the eight will be alternates.
The Sept. 24, 2009 incident allegedly followed an earlier domestic assault involving Rivera and a woman, identified as Feliciano’s niece.
Fitchet fired Feliciano and patrolman Pedro R. Mendez after an independent hearings officer found they had violated departmental standards.
Mendez was accused of falsifying the police report of the Rivera incident, but does not face criminal charges.
The trial is expected to last at least two days. At least six witnesses, including Rivera and several police officers, will be called to testify, Gagne and Butler said.
Rivera, according to court filings, claims that Feliciano and “other officers” went to his home and “beat me up very bad” after he had an argument with his girlfriend.