The prosecutor said Rogers could have walked away from the fight.
SPRINGFIELD – The defense lawyer argued Kenneth Rogers bit another inmate’s ear off in self defense during a February 2010 incident at the Hampden County Correctional Center at Stony Brook in Ludlow.
Anthony C. Bonavita“This isn’t Mike Tyson. This isn’t someone biting an ear off on purpose,” said defense lawyer Anthony C. Bonavita.
Assistant District Attorney Howard I. Safford told Hampden Superior Court Judge Peter A. Velis Rogers could have just got off of the victim, who he had pinned down in the fight, and walked away.
“You don’t have to bite an ear off, your honor,” Safford said.
The two sides were arguing at the jury waived trial as to whether Rogers, 45, should be convicted of mayhem.
Velis on Tuesday acquitted Rogers of the mayhem charge. But he found Rogers guilty of assault and battery on the inmate and sentenced him to 2½ years in the Ludlow jail.
Rogers had about five months left on the sentence he was serving at the jail on some District Court cases when the incident happened. He has been held awaiting trial on these charges.
Bonavita’s Mike Tyson reference called up the 1997 Tyson-Evander Holyfield fight in Las Vegas where Tyson bit a part of Holyfield’s ear off during the fight.
As a result of biting Holyfield on both ears and other behavior, Tyson’s boxing license was revoked by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and he was fined $3 million plus legal costs.
Bonavita argued Rogers’ ear-biting didn’t meet the legal mayhem description of willfully maiming a person, saying “there was no specific intent to disfigure.”
He said the victim was trying to choke Rogers, and Rogers was biting the man’s face when the victim turned his head and got his ear bitten.
Safford said Rogers was the aggressor in the incident and at the time Rogers bit the victim’s ear off, Rogers was also punching the victim and twisting his genitals.
Safford said the victim was yelling “let me go” and was on his back in a cell getting beaten by “a very powerful individual.”
Safford said of Rogers, “He persists in the behavior and uses the excuse, I was trying to save myself so I bit off his ear.”
The victim has had surgeries to try to reconstruct an ear, according to testimony.