Commeret not guilty of assault

LYNN – Thomas Commeret, estranged head of the Marblehead Community Charter Public School, walked out of Lynn District Court a free man Thursday at 2:30 p.m. after a jury of three men and three women found him innocent of assault and battery and threats.Commeret was accused by a former MCCPS student. The jury deliberated for three hours before reaching a verdict.When the verdict was announced Commeret showed no reaction. Some of his accuser’s teenage friends began to cry and left the courtroom quickly. Commeret’s friends held him in the room for some time to show their support.Jury members left the courthouse quickly without responding to reporters.Commeret made a brief statement before leaving: “I’m just grateful for the thoughtfulness of the jury and I look forward to going back to teaching.””I believe justice was served today,” said his lawyer, Boston Attorney Jay Carney. “He is so grateful that the jury ended his nightmare (of being accused). A conviction likely would have ended his career.”Steve O’Connell, spokesman for the Essex County District Attorney, said, “It is our policy not to comment on not guilty findings.”Commeret is currently on paid administrative leave from the MCCPS. Kay O’Dwyer, chairman of the charter school board, has said on several occasions that he will remain on leave for the remaining two years of his contract and will not return to the school he helped to found.Carney said, “I know Tom does not hold bitter feelings against (accuser) Bronte Price and he hopes she goes on to lead a successful life.”Asked why Price would testify against his client if she were not at least partially truthful, Carney said, “I don’t know if we’ll ever know.”In the end, the jury was asked to choose between two differing stories, one from a school administrator or one a teenaged girl, and apparently chose the administrator.In his closing remarks Carney recalled testimony from teenage defense witness Olivia Tosi who said she saw two different sets of bruises on Price’s arm two-and-a-half weeks apart, indicating two separate assaults and not the single assault alleged by the prosecution.He called Sandy Marcus, who testified that she saw a mini-bar in Commeret’s office, “biased” and called Commeret “a career educator” and asked, “If you have lived your life in a way, should it be destroyed by an allegation when there is so much reasonable doubt?”Assistant District Attorney Kim Faitella reminded the jury that former MCCPS teacher Abby (Baker) Whittredge said she saw the same set of bruises on Price’s arms on two occasions last April. “What is her (Price’s) motive to lie about this?”She argued that it was Commeret who seemed prepped for testimony, answering his lawyer’s questions quickly and pausing and stuttering when he answered hers, and his main motivation when he was accused was his desire not to lose his job.Judge Ellen Flatley praised both lawyers for their work in the trial.