http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1352755&srvc=rssAn accused pedophile has refused to testify against the wheelchair-bound vigilante grandfather who took him off the street with his baseball bat, but prosecutors insist they won’t drop their felony assault case against the Martha’s Vineyard man who child-protection advocates have hailed as a hero.
“We still have enough evidence to support his guilt. We can’t be guided solely by emotion,” Deputy First Assistant Plymouth District Attorney John E. Bradley Jr. said of Frank Hebert, a paraplegic computer repairman facing 10 years in prison if convicted of the Louisville Slugger attack on Joshua Hardy.
Hebert, 57, claims he was trying to protect a young girl when he whacked his girlfriend’s son-in-law with a bat on Feb. 22 and kept him cornered until police arrived.
Hebert’s girlfriend Heather Munson said she fears, “He won’t last in prison. He can’t even hold a food tray.”
Because Hardy has invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify, Hebert’s attorney Janice Bassil told the Herald she expected prosecutors to drop the charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon at a status conference last Friday. Instead, Edgartown District Court Clerk Liza H. Williamson confirmed the matter is set to go before a jury Sept. 12.
Bassil yesterday declared prosecutors guilty of “an asinine lack of discretion. It’s not like (Hebert) lined up a baseball bat like Manny Ramirez [stats]. He tried to do the right thing.”
Hardy’s attorney, John McK. Pavlos, did not return requests for comment.
Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe turned the assault and battery case over to the Plymouth District Attorney’s Office because Bassil’s firm represents O’Keefe. But in addition to defending Hardy, 28, as an alleged victim, Plymouth is also prosecuting Hardy on grand jury indictments charging him with sexually assaulting two young girls.
He pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
Those allegations came to light only after Hebert lured the 230-pound Hardy to his Vineyard Haven store Mac PC Sales and Service on Feb. 22, clubbed him on the arm and called the cops. Hardy remains held on $160,000 bail.
Hebert, as a first-time offender, was initially offered pretrial probation on the bat assault charge that did not require him to admit guilt if he stayed out of trouble for a year, Bradley said. But Hebert, who lost the use of his legs in a car crash 11 years ago, said his conscience would not allow him to accept.
“I did what I had to do, and the rest doesn’t matter,” Hebert told the Herald yesterday.
If acquitted, Hebert said he will donate his $69 baseball bat to Lynnfield-based Protect Mass. Children, which has raised $500 toward his defense. Joseph DiPietro, the nonprofit’s founder and president, called Hebert “a remarkable man.
We fully support Mr. Hebert and look to him as a hero. Aren’t there real criminals out there we should be worried about prosecuting?”
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