Prominent (Mass. Repub) family's son guilty of assault (on black women)

[KamaAina]

The repuke family values saga continues...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060717/ap_on_re_us/girls_beaten

A member of a prominent white family was acquitted Monday of civil rights violations in an attack on two black girls at a downtown subway station but found guilty of assault.

Josiah Spaulding III, whose grandfather founded Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and headed the state Republican Party, faces up to 20 years in prison....

Spaulding pulled out a collapsible metal baton and hit the girl on the back of the head, according to the witnesses. He also hit a second girl who was not involved in the confrontation, they said.

Prosecutors had described Spaulding as a "skinhead" and said they found Nazi paraphernalia and white supremacist literature in a locker he rented.

'Tis said, "The apple never falls far from the tree" -- 'specially not when it's worm-eaten... :puke:

[bluestateguy]

1. Massachusetts Republicans? Do they still have those?

I would think that any Republican in Massachusetts would see the writing on the wall that maybe they are not welcome anymore , and pack up and leave.

[KamaAina]

3. One of them claims to be Governor

but Mitt's actually a Utah Republican, so he doesn't count.

[skids]

14. Yeah, they launder drug money...

...among other things. They are ridiculous -- a bunch of good-ol-boys and some street muscle egged on by hate radio.

Dems could make them go away entirely here if they addressed their own faults and got people solidly behind them, but I'm not holding my breath. The gubernatorial primary might cause some positive steps in that direction if it turns out well.

[MadMaddie]

2. Ummm it sounds like he was waiting for a situation to arise..

Other than Police officers and military personel who walks around with a baton....this is the face of the Neocons....he is just missing his brown shirt....

<snip>
collapsible metal baton
<snip>

[flowomo]

4. I don't see any politics in this.....

this kid is a sicko, but I wouldn't want to start parceling such people among political parties. And Spaulding's grandfather was an old-style Massachusetts Republican. Here's his obit from a 1983 New York Times:

Josiah Spaulding, a businessman and major figure in Republican politics in Massachusetts, died after suffering a heart attack Friday in Puerto Rico.

He was 60 years old.

Mr. Spaulding led a group of state chairmen at the 1968 Republican National Convention who sought unsuccessfully to head off the nomination of Richard M. Nixon and to back the candidacy of Nelson A. Rockefeller. Most recently he headed the Presidential campaign of John B. Anderson in Massachusetts.

Survivors include his wife, Helen, three sons and four grandchildren.

[AllieB]

5. I was just going to chime in

that the Spaulding family is part of that dying breed of liberal Republican. Helen, the widow, is a big contributor to Democratic candidates, as is the sicko's dad, Josiah.

http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=MA&last=Spaulding

[flowomo]

6. I believe the dad is head of the Wang Center for the Arts...

a Bowdoin grad whose resume looks decent to me.

[AllieB]

8. Yes, he's always been involved with philanthropies also

I agree with you that it's not political, but a sad family tragedy. This kid needs psychiatric help and jail time.

[truthisfreedom]

7. we may jest, but this is pain and tragedy all around. how nauseating.

i can hardly think about it.

[AnOhioan]

9. I don't know that we can assume the grandson is a Repub.

Hell, Stephanie Millers DAD is (was?) a Repub. Just because a family member may be of a political persuasion does not mean a individual is of that same persuasion.

That being said, the grandson is an asshole because he likes to beat up women.

[Tellurian]

10. Is it my imagination? It seems like every other day we're hearing about

some Republican committing a bizarre act of violence. These people come from well known
families, pillars of the community, if you will, shooting their spouses, killing their children.
Then, given the chance, turning the guns on themselves

[ShockediSay]

11. I think John Dean (of Nixon) was on NPR today on psych testing

of conservatives, who came out significantly strong on authoratarianism.

[Tellurian]

12. The common thread among them is

their lack of conscience, remorse, or empathy.
Stealing, to them is entitlement.
Cheating is winning (anyway you can)
Lying is living it; until the Truth is too much to bear.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Nothing but contempt for a man who beats any women, anywhere.

There is no acceptable excuse. NEVER.

Here's the version of this story from the Boston Globe which is undoubtedly getting down-played:

Monday, July 17, 2006
Split verdict in trial of man accused of racial assault
By Shawntaye Hopkins and Andrew Ryan Globe Correspondent

A judge issued a split verdict this morning in the trial of a man from a prominent family who prosecutors alleged was a “skinhead” who beat two black girls with a metal baton, finding the defendant guilty of assault but clearing him of civil and Constitutional rights violations.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Charles T. Spurlock ruled after a bench trial that Josiah Spaulding III, 26, was guilty of two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
(snip)

“We believe that the circumstances of this case warranted additional convictions,” Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a written statement after the verdict, “But we respect Judge Spurlock’s decision and his consideration of the facts throughout the trial.”

Prosecutors say that Spaulding was among a group of people who confronted three women inside the Park Street MBTA station on Nov. 22, 2002. The group shouted racial slurs at the women, according to prosecutors, and Spaulding used a metal baton to strike two of the women in the head.
(snip/...)

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2006/07/split_verdict_i.html

[Totally Committed]

17. A Spaulding is a SKINHEAD??????????????????????

Ugh, ugh, ugh................

sickening.

TC

[Tesha]

18. "Cyrus da damn Virus"

It's "Cyrus da damn Virus":

[brentspeak]

15. You've got it totally wrong about the Spaulding family

Josiah Spaulding III may be a violent skinhead wacko, but he has nothing in common with his predecessors in the Spaulding family, who were definitely among the actual good Republicans in the country.

[wicket]

16. Well said

n/t