Colella found guilty on assault charge

SALEM – A Superior Court jury returned a guilty verdict Friday against Swampscott native Blake Colella on assault and battery charges and the District Attorney will seek a seven to 10 year jail sentence Monday.The verdict capped a week-and-a-half-long trial with Colella, 25, initially charged with assault with intent to murder and various other assault charges. Judge David Lowy directed out several charges during the trial, leaving the jury with only an assault and battery with a dangerous weapon charge to consider when it started deliberations Thursday.Prosecutor Michael Hickey said Colella stabbed Richard Dalton outside the 7-Eleven store on Fayette Street in Lynn on May 19, 2006 during a confrontation that began when Dalton saw Colella talking to his girlfriend.During the trial, Hickey used images from the store’s security camera videotape and referred to taped conversations between Colella and his father to underscore the charges against Colella.Dalton testified Monday he could not recall what happened on the night he was stabbed. Colella’s attorney, Ronald Ranta, on the first day of the trial told the jury “the only thing that is certain you will learn from the evidence is that Richard Dalton sustained a wound to his chest.”Colella declined to comment on the verdict Friday, but Ranta said he will appeal it.Although he has a court record nearly nine pages long, Colella has been found not guilty at least once on past charges, but spent nearly five years in jail awaiting trial on those charges.He has three cases pending against him including assault charges stemming from his arrest in September 2006, including one filed on behalf of a woman who planned to testify against him in the Dalton trial.He also has a case pending on a possession of heroin with intent to distribute charge dating back to February and domestic assault and battery charge from June. He entered not guilty pleas at his initial arraignments on those charges.