Vassell had been charged as a result of a 2008 incident in his UMass dorm.
08.03.2010 | NORTHAMPTON - Jason Vassell speaks at a rally celebrating the end of his probation.NORTHAMPTON - After sitting silently through 2½ years of court proceedings, Jason Vassell had his say Tuesday as supporters rallied to celebrate the dropping of his criminal charges.
Some 70 people turned out on the steps of City Hall to mark the completion of Vassell’s 2½-year pre-trial probation. The rally brought to an end a case that raised the specter of racial injustice and divided the community.
Vassell, 23, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and battery resulting from a Feb. 3, 2008, incident in his University of Massachusetts dormitory in which he stabbed two men. According to Vassell, who is black, Jonathan Bosse and John C. Bowes, who are white and did not attend UMass, broke his window and made racial taunts before entering the dorm’s lobby in the early hours of the morning. Vassell came out of his room in a hooded sweatshirt and ski mask, armed with a knife and a clothes iron. A friend of Vassell’s tried to separate the parties but Vassell stabbed the two men while one of them broke his nose.
Although Vassell was charged with the two felonies, Bowes was charged with disorderly conduct and a civil rights violation, both misdemeanors, and Bosse was not charged at all. A jury found Bowes innocent of the civil rights charge but convicted him of disorderly conduct.
Vassell’s lawyers, David P. Hoose and Luke Ryan, argued that their client’s arrest and prosecution were racially influenced and demanded files from the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office regarding similar cases. That request was appealed, but a judge ultimately ordered District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel to hand over the files. The two sides worked out an agreement before that came to pass, however.
Visibly nervous, Vassell stood atop the City Hall steps Tuesday and told the crowd some issues remained to be addressed. Specifically, he questioned why investigators assumed he was a drug dealer.
“I’m a law-abiding citizen who deserved equal and fair treatment,” Vassell said. “Now I can salvage the rest of my college career and lead a meaningful and successful life.”
Vassell declined to elaborate on his comments later, but his mother, Esmie James, thanked God that her son’s trials are over.
“Now he can go back to school,” James said. “We appreciate everyone who stood behind Jason.”
The rally also took aim at Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel and former Assistant District Attorney Michael A. Cahillane, who is running for Scheibel’s seat. Former UMass Student Government Association President Malcolm Chu of the group Justice for Jason called their effort a victory over “a system that historically takes young brothers like Jason and doesn’t give them a shot.”
Scheibel, Chu said, prosecuted Vassell based on his race and “chose to ignore the fact that Jason was a victim in this case.”
Justice for Jason, a group made up of Vassell’s supporters, jammed Hampshire Superior Court for every legal proceeding and marched on Scheibel’s office, demanding that she drop the charges against Vassell. Ekwueme Michael Thelwell, a UMass professor emeritus of Afro-American Studies, noted that Cahillane, the original prosecutor, called Vassell a menace to society while asking that he be held without right to bail.
“He owes the community some explanation,” Thelwell said.
Neither Cahillane nor Scheibel could be reached Tuesday.
According to the terms of his agreement, Vassell acknowledged stabbing Bowes and Bosse and was allowed to serve out the 2½-year pre-trial probationary period imposed at his arraignment in 2008. He will have no criminal record because the charges against him are expunged.
