Accused Lynn granny beater confesses

SALEM – A 31-year-old Lynn man confessed to severely beating an 89-year-old great-grandmother and robbing her in front of her home on Eastern Avenue in November of 2010, stealing property from another woman and burglarizing a home where a safe was stolen. He was sentenced three years in state prison.Nicholas J. Christian, 31, of 7 Hammond St., Lynn, made his plea Thursday afternoon in Salem Superior Court.He pleaded guilty to unarmed robbery of a person over the age of 60, assault and battery on a person over the age of 60 causing serious bodily injury, receiving stolen property under $250, breaking and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony and larceny over $250 before Judge Timothy Q. Feeley.Christian will serve three years in prison before being placed on probation for another two years at which time he was ordered to stay away from the victim, remain drug free with random screenings, be evaluated for substance abuse treatment and counseling as deemed necessary and pay restitution in an amount agreed upon.In handing down the punishment, Feeley said he took into account both the prosecutor and defense recommendations and read several supporting letters from people who know Christian.Feeley said there was “sadness and tragedy on both parties.”?The conduct is something you don?t take back when it is done,” Feeley reflected to Christian as he handed down the punishment.Christian admitted to mugging then 89-year-old Geneva Sozanski outside her home at 538 Eastern Ave. on Nov. 15, 2010.Sozanski had told authorities she was walking from the driveway to the sidewalk outside her home after dropping off her 92-year-old husband at around 1:15 p.m., when a man jumped out of a black car and yanked her arm to get her pocketbook.She fell to the ground and the thief pounced on her head before fleeing with her purse.Sozanski sustained a black eye, multiple bruises and a head gash as a result of the brutal attack.A witness saw the incident and observed Christian run into 7 Hammond St.Police arrested Christian a few days later following an investigation and found her purse and a wallet in a trash bag in his basement apartment.Authorities during their investigation learned that Christian stole a purse from another woman, Diana Keith, 35, of Lynn on Nov. 7.But that charge of unarmed robbery was dismissed following a preliminary trial motion on a legal issue as to the presentation to the grand jury, but the charge of receiving stolen property under $250 remained.In addition, on Nov. 17 Christian along with another man, Michael Curley, 33, also of Lynn, burglarized a business on Western Avenue, stealing a safe that contained personal items, but no cash.The pair was seen leaving the building on video surveillance carrying the safe.When police searched Christian?s apartment in late November after the beating of Sozanski they recovered the safe from his basement apartment and a key that belonged to Keith.Assistant District Attorney Kim M. Faitella proposed up to five years in prison with probation, reminding Feeley of the “egregious” facts of the case involving the elderly citizen.?This was an 89-year-old woman who after dropping off her 92-year-old husband was attacked in her own driveway in the daytime where she should feel safe and was unable to do that,” Faitella emphasized.She went on saying that Mrs. Sozanski had said, “Had he just asked me for the purse, I would have given it to him.”?This was completely unnecessary, that force,” Faitella pointed out to Feeley, as she proposed a lengthier punishment.Faitella explained that Sozanski chose not to be present for the hearing, but felt that Christian should be punished in jail but that it should be left up to the court.Faitella also acknowledged that Christian at the time had a drug problem.Christian?s defense lawyer Cathleen E. Campbell asked for leniency, reminding Feeley that her client had no record and that the state guidelines for a person with no record called for a 12-to-