DEREK WEBB
Derek Webb wears an identification bracelet and handcuffs while standing in the dock at Westfield District Court. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
WESTFIELD – A city man who was taken into custody after a dramatic flight into the Westfield River last October has had two of his days in court.
Derek W. Webb, 20, whose last known address was 44 Mechanic Street, had been sought intensively by city police after three incidents during a five day period in August in which he allegedly beat three different victims for little apparent reason.
The search ended Oct. 1 when Det. Brian Freeman spotted Webb on the railroad bridge that parallels the Great River Bridge and Webb fled into the river.
He was eventually persuaded to surrender by rookie officer David Ortiz.
Webb appeared in court Wednesday to answer one of the assault and battery charges that had sparked the search.
In that case, a man had alleged that Webb had assaulted him for no apparent reason while both were visiting a mutual friend.
That case was dismissed, without prejudice, when the victim did not appear in court on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Webb returned to court to answer an aggravated assault and battery charge dating from the same period.
During the proceedings, Assistant District Attorney Mary Partyka told Judge Philip Contant that the facts of that case, as presented by Westfield police, were that the victim had been “jumped” by Webb in the common hallway of his home after he had been engaged in an altercation with a neighbor, who is a friend of Webb’s, about a loud radio.
In the statement of facts included in his application for a criminal complaint, Officer Richard Mazza wrote “the battery caused the victim to suffer multiple broken bones in his face.”
In court, Webb agreed that the facts were correct.
Contant was presented with a sentencing proposal, agreed to by the Commonwealth and his attorney, Dean E. Goldblatt, which recommended a one year sentence in the house of correction with six months to be served direct (with credit for time served) and the balance suspended with probation.
However, Conant demurred.
He noted “This will be like his seventh or eighth assault and battery conviction since 2010” and said “It sounds like all he does is beat people up.”
Contant offered as an alternative a two year sentence, still with six months to be served direct, so that if there is a violation of probation, Webb will be incarcerated longer.
After a recess to discuss the offer, Goldblatt asked that the time his client would have to serve in jail be changed from six months to time served.
Webb has been in custody since Oct. 2 and has already served five months and 19 days.
However, Contant was not swayed and Webb accepted the sentence Contant had offered.
Webb is due to return to court April 24 to answer a third assault and battery charge and a new trespassing charge will also be addressed then.
Derek Webb stands in the dock at Westfield District Court Thursday with his lawyer, Dean E. Goldblatt of Springfield. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
