Blueblood Buttwhack

From the Boston Herald :

The scion of a prominent Bay State family was jailed last week for a vicious attack on a Cambridge woman after a judge rejected efforts by his well-heeled kin to keep the man free due to a condition his lawyer dubbed “intermittent explosive disorder.”

Christopher Gardner Beaman, 24, a descendant of Henry Cabot Lodge, was sentenced to a year in jail after his petite former girlfriend told a rapt courtroom about the unprovoked attack that lacerated her liver and temporarily put her in a wheelchair.

“He hit me where all my vital organs were. If his fist had moved a little to the right or a little to the left, I would not be here today,” said the brunette from the witness stand at Somerville District Court on Thursday. “This would be a homicide proceeding.”

The woman, who asked that her name not be used, delivered the emotional victim impact statement in front of a courtroom filled with 11 family and friends of Beaman, a popular organizer of Boston Frisbee and flag football teams and political documentary groups.

Among Beaman’s supporters was his mother, Dr. Roseanna H. Means, who took out a restraining order against her son after he allegedly pushed her down stairs at her Wellesley home Dec. 10, 2006, court records show. That assault and battery case was continued for one year without a finding Jan. 30, 2007, and Beaman was put on probation for one year, court records show.

“I would like him to get help,” said Beaman’s 30-year-old ex, who was accompanied by her parents and attorney John G. Swomley. “If Chris does not want the help, at least take him off the streets. The next time, someone will be maimed or killed.”

Vicious assault detailed

Beaman, who is 6 feet 6 inches, stood surrounded by five court officers with his mouth agape at times as the victim described being poked in the chest, pushed to the ground and punched in the face by him on different occassions.

He was charged with aggravated assault and battery after he punched the woman in the stomach at his Somerville apartment Oct. 5, 2007, after an exchange about putting gas in her car, court records show.

“I thought he was going to hug me goodbye, but instead he punched me so hard,” she said. “I have never been in so much pain.”

The woman said she pleaded with Beaman to take her to the hospital for fear of her life and even dictated to him her last words to her family in case he did not comply. Beaman instead drove the woman home to her Cambridge apartment and gave her two Tylenol PM tablets, she said.

After Beaman left, she called 911 and was taken to Mount Auburn Hospital. Five days after being admitted, the woman told her story to Somerville Detective David L. Lyons from her hospital bed.

“(Getting law enforcement involved) wasn’t the outcome that (she) wanted,” said Swomley, a family friend of the victim who visited her in the hospital. “She was still fiercely defending him.”

Beaman’s attorney, Charles H. Riley III, said his client was diagnosed by Dr. Michael J. Ostacher of Massachusetts General Hospital with intermittent explosive disorder, depression and marijuana dependence, which is in remission.

Clinicians at Bridgewater State Hospital, where Beaman underwent a 40-day evaluation after the attack, concluded he does not have intermittent explosive disorder, but instead diagnosed him with an anti-social personality disorder, Riley said.

“It came out of the blue,” Riley said of the attack. He asked the court to impose a suspended jail sentence with probation, continued GPS monitoring, medical treatment and participation in anger management counseling.