SALEM – A Lynn man convicted earlier this week of battery in connection with the fatal attack of a man in a Green Street apartment building two years ago received the maximum punishment of two and a half years in jail.Joseph Fleury, 44, formerly of 124 Green St., Apt. 406, went on trial last week on a charge of manslaughter in connection with the beating death of James Anderson, 49, of Lynn, on June 28, 2006.Jurors, however, felt that the evidence against Fleury, who claimed self-defense in the attack, did not justify a verdict of manslaughter and returned a lesser charge of battery in connection with the case.”Obviously we don’t know the reasons for the jury’s decision, but the jury did find a battery occurred. Based on his record and the harm, I am imposing the maximum,” said Judge David A. Lowy as he imposed the 30-month jail term.It was about 7:30 p.m., when the fight broke out with Fleury and Anderson inside the hallway at 124 Green St., where they both resided in separate apartments.Fleury earlier had borrowed Anderson’s car and went to his apartment to tell him it ran out of gas and he abandoned it near Union Street in downtown Lynn.When Fleury told Anderson what happened, Fleury testified that Anderson slammed the door on his hand.Fleury then kicked his door several times and began to leave when Anderson came out of his apartment and attacked Fleury around the waist in the hallway on the second floor. The two engaged in a fist fight for a time, then departed to their own apartments.When police arrived at the complex, they found Anderson lying halfway between his doorway and the hall. He told them “Joe” who lived upstairs had kicked him in the stomach and face. Blood from both men was spattered on the walls on the second and third floor.Anderson sustained four fractured ribs and a lacerated spleen as a result of the attack.He was taken to Union Hospital where he later died from injuries.Assistant District Attorney James P. Gubitose asked Lowy to impose the maximum punishment under the law for battery, which is two and a half years in jail.In asking the judge for that penalty, Gubitose emphasized that it was based on Fleury’s actions and the injuries that resulted from the assault on Anderson.He pointed out that Fleury has a record dating back to the 1980s, has served time in state prison and failed several times on probation.He said Anderson’s family, who live in Pennsylvania, were aware and agreed with the state’s recommendation.Defense lawyer Lawrence J. McGuire pleaded for a lesser punishment of two years in jail saying that Fleury’s blow “did not really cause his (Anderson’s) death.”He told Lowy that Fleury was born and raised in Lynn, graduated from Lynn Classical High School in 1981 and has been working doing property maintenance.McGuire acknowledged his client’s record, but noted that was earlier in his life when he became addicted to heroin and drugs.He said he has been free of heroin for two years and, at the time of the incident, was on a Methadone treatment and that he and Anderson would go together to get their treatment.Then in September 2006, three months after the death of Anderson, while Fleury was out on bail awaiting trial on the case, he felt badly and was brooding, he returned to heroin and overdosed, McGuire said.He then went into a treatment facility, but because his family feared him, they revoked his bail and he has been in custody since.Fleury has already served 387 days of the sentence awaiting trial. Because it is a jail sentence instead of a state prison term, he is expected to be paroled in about three months.