Co-defendant Devon Farrell previously pleaded guilty to all charges.
Peter GordonSPRINGFIELD – A Hampden Superior Court jury on Friday found Peter Gordon, of Springfield, guilty of assault with a dangerous weapon and possessing a large capacity firearm in a Chicopee case dating from December 2009.
But the jury acquitted Gordon, 21, of Springfield, of home invasion and three other charges.
Jurors filed into Hampden Superior Court Judge Tina S. Page’s courtroom after they delivered their verdict and were released from duty to hear the sentencing. Page sentenced Gordon to 2½ to three years in state prison, followed by three years probation.
Jurors, at the sentencing, heard Gordon’s co-defendant, Devon Farrell, had pleaded guilty prior to Gordon’s trial to six charges and had been sentenced to four to six years in state prison followed by five years probation.
That information was not presented to the jury at trial, according to state rules governing what evidence can be admitted.
Devon FarrellThe case against both men included two separate incidents on two different days at 30 Center St., characterized by prosecution and defense as a rooming house where people sold and used drugs in Chicopee.
In the first incident on Dec. 19, a man who lived in the rooming house was beaten with a gun and kicked while in his room.
Defense lawyer Tracy E. Duncan argued to the jury the state had not proven Gordon was even in the victim’s apartment that day.
Assistant District Attorney Eduardo Velazquez argued the state had proven through testimony of the victim and a neighbor Gordon was there and committed the crime with Farrell, 37, of Springfield. The jury acquitted Gordon of the four charges arising from the Dec. 19 incident.
In the second incident on Dec. 26, 2009, a different victim testified Farrell put a gun to his head in one of the common bathrooms in the rooming house. The man testified Farrell handed the gun to Gordon, who threw it out a window when police arrived. Both Gordon and Farrell were arrested that day.
The jury convicted Gordon of the two charges stemming from the Dec. 26 incident.
Velazquez, in his closing argument, told jurors he had warned them at the beginning of the trial the victim of the beating had a long history with the courts.
“He is what he is,” Velazquez said. “He told you he used and sold drugs. ...This case was about drugs, it was about money, it was about violence. Certainly one begets the other.”
Duncan told jurors they had heard evidence of the “seedy side” of life at 30 Center St. She said Gordon sold drugs, and the victim used and sold drugs. She said they should question the credibility of the victims.