Ellison was convicted of attacking corrections officer Joseph Giannetti, pictured.
03.26.2012 | SPRINGFIELD - Correctional officer Joseph Giannetti, seated with tie, listens to the sentencing of Roland Ellison. SPRINGFIELD - Roland Ellison was sentenced Monday to 9 1/2 to 10 years in state prison for the severe beating of corrections officer Joseph Giannetti at the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow.
That sentence will start after Ellison completes a 7 1/2 to 10 year state prison term for assault and battery and other charges in an unrelated case. Ellison was sentenced in that case in June 2011.
Judge Constance M. Sweeney called Ellison's attack "one of extreme brutality."
Assistant District Attorney Howard Safford had urged Sweeney to give Ellison that sentence, saying Ellison delivered 50 or 60 blows to Giannetti in the attack captured on security cameras at the jail.
Ellison had been found guilty by a Hampden Superior Court jury of assault and battery on a correctional officer for pummeling and kicked Giannetti, a correctional officer, repeatedly on Jan. 5, 2011, causing a severe concussion, a broken rib, fractured cheek and forehead lacerations.
Giannetti, in his victim impact statement to Sweeney, said he never believed something like this would happen to him.
“I relive this incident over and over in my head,” he said, saying the support of his friends and family helped him in his recovery from the injuries.
Giannetti said the 9½-10-year sentence will send a message that he hopes will prevent future attacks against his fellow correctional officers both in Hampden County and across the state.
Ellison, 32, refused to be brought into the courtroom from the court lockup when Sweeney sent jurors out for deliberation in the morning, and then refused to be brought into the courtroom when the jury had a question and for the verdict.
Sweeney said it was within Ellison's right not to appear for those matters, but he must appear for sentencing.
For the sentencing, court security put Ellison in a small conference room at the back of the courtroom. The door was kept open and Ellison could hear what was being said directly and with an audio backup.
Court officers kept people from passing by the door while Ellison was inside with the door open.
The Hampden Superior Court jury acquitted Ellison's co-defendant, Alex Gonzalez. The prosecution argued although Ellison was alone in the assault, Gonzalez planned it with him and was willing to assist.
Defense lawyer Elizabeth Rodriguez-Ross told jurors there was no evidence at all Gonzalez had anything to do with Ellison’s assault.
About 30 colleagues of Giannetti were on hand to see the verdict and for the sentencing.
Edward C. Bryant, Ellison's lawyer, had asked the court to order a mental health exam of Ellison by the court mental health staff before sentencing.
Sweeney denied the request, saying Ellison has shown deliberate, manipulative behavior and this is another attempt to delay what will happen to him.
On at least one day of the trial Ellison would not come into the courtroom in the morning for an hour, delaying the trial and keeping jurors and the court waiting.
Ellison was also charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. The jury found him guilty of a lesser offense, assault and battery.
Since the dangerous weapon portion was gone, both prosecution and defense agreed the charge became a duplication on the assault and battery on a correction officer charge
The dangerous weapon in the charge was a metal grate that was part of the shelving in the officers station where the beating took place. Safford argued Ellison beat Giannetti’s head into the grate.
Bryant asked Sweeney to give a sentence less than what the prosecution wanted, saying although the attack was violent, it was a quick incident and was not planned.