Marblehead ex-school boss seeks dismissal

LYNN – Thomas Commeret, 55, the former head of the Marblehead Community Charter Public School, has asked Lynn District Court Judge Ellen Flatley to dismiss charges of assault and battery and threats against him.If Judge Flatley rules in Commeret’s favor, Assistant District Attorney Kim Faitella would have to request a complaint for the charges from a court clerk, starting the judicial process that began last June all over again. She is scheduled to announce her decision Jan. 10.After the hearing, J.W. Carney said, he has been informed by Faitella that subpoenas have been issued to obtain the medical records he requested Dec. 4. Judge Michael Laurenzano said at that hearing that he was inclined to grant the motion.Commeret is charged with shoving a 14-year-old girl student against a door and telling her, "If you tell anyone about this I will (deleted) find you." Marblehead police originally charged him with a felony, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a door. Commeret got that charge reduced to assault and battery last month.Commeret’s lawyer, Attorney J. R. Carney, said a court clerk "erroneously" issued a felony assault charge. "Judge Laurenzano agreed that the evidence did not support a felony charge," Carney said, referring to the judge’s decision to reduce the felony charge.He argued that if a hearing had been held and the clerk heard the conflicting statements made by the alleged victim, the clerk might not have issued a complaint.State law says a defendant has the right to a hearing before a court clerk on a misdemeanor charge. Carney argued that there was no evidence to support the felony charge and the clerk should have determined that.Faitella said Marblehead police sent the charge to the court as a felony. The clerk had no authority to hold a hearing on the felony and no choice but to issue a felony charge."The purpose of a hearing is to weed out minor complaints. That’s not what we have here," she said. She pointed out that the girl said she gave inconsistent statements about her bruises because Commeret threatened her, a statement the clerk would have read in the police report. "The clerk may have found that he (Commeret) was an immediate threat to her," she said.She added that Carney made several statements about seeking a speedy trial last summer. "Since then there’s been motion after motion," she said, "and now he wants to go back and start all over again."After the hearing Carney said he filed the dismissal motion because "The prosecution violated the law in the way the complaint was obtained, and if the clerk hears all the (defense testimony) about the victim’s credibility he could decline to issue a complaint. The case is then over forever."