Assault & Battery
In July, R.P. was acquitted of 9 of 10 indictments, including assault with intent to rape, and convicted of only simple assault & battery. His codefendants, represented by other counsel, were found guilty of 23 of 32 indictments.
Excerpted from article posted on October 25, 2003
Three former classmates sentenced for assault
The Associated Press
One of three Centre County men charged with sexually assaulting two male schoolmates while on an honor students' field trip near Boston was sentenced to six months in prison by a Massachusetts judge.
Benjamin Walker was sentenced to six months at a suburban Boston prison, followed by 12 months probation, for multiple counts of indecent assault and battery.
Co-defendant Garrett Broberg was found guilty of assault and battery and other charges and sentenced to 18 months probation, and co-defendant Ronnie Phillips was found guilty of one count of assault and battery and sentenced to four months probation...
click here to read full text of articleExcerpted from article posted on July 01, 2003
P-O grads guilty of field-trip sex assault
Centre Daily Times, Pennsylvania
By Mike Joseph
Two former Philipsburg-Osceola Area High School students were found guilty Monday of assault with intent to rape and related charges by a Massachusetts jury that deliberated more than two days.
The jury of six men and six women in Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge, Mass., found a third former student who had faced a similar set of charges guilty of only one count of assault and battery.
The charges against all three students stemmed from assaults on two male classmates during a four-day school field trip to the Boston area in April 2001...
Ronnie Phillips, 19, of Decatur, was found guilty of one of three counts of assault and battery and acquitted of the other nine charges he faced. He was a junior at the time of the incident...
Phillips faces a maximum of 2 1/2 years in jail for his conviction on the single misdemeanor charge. Phillips' lawyer, Kevin J. Mahoney, said after the verdicts that he does not expect his client to serve a single day in jail.
Mahoney said he has been a defense lawyer for 14 years and, in that time, very few verdicts have surprised him. But he said Monday's verdicts "totally sickened" him and "seemed to be contrary" to the evidence.
Middlesex prosecutors have "little or no judgment when it comes to evaluating the merits of cases," Mahoney said.
"It was very sad to watch that because I personally don't think they did anything more than haze this kid a little bit over the weekend," Mahoney said.
LaGrassa said assistant district attorneys do not comment to the media about cases. Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley did not return a message seeking comment...
Excerpted from article posted on July 5, 2003
Residents React to Verdict of Former P-O Students
Centre Daily Times, Pennsylvania
Some borough residents are still finding it tough to talk about the criminal case that, on Monday, led Massachusetts a jury to convict three Philipsburg-Osceola Area graduates of assault on two high school classmates."It's just such a small community that everyone does know each other, so it makes it difficult," said Gary Williams, owner of Gary and Co., a hair salon....
Excerpts from article posted on June 27, 2003
Philipsburg-Osceola sexual-assault case goes to jury
Centre Daily Times, Pennsylvania
By Barney Beal
Whether three former Philipsburg-Osceola High Area School students were merely "ragging" on two fellow students during a trip to the Boston area two years ago or whether they sexually assaulted the two victims in a hotel room is now for a jury to decide.
Following a weeklong trial, 12 Massachusetts jurors will decide if Garrett Broberg, 20, and Benjamin Walker, 20, both of Philipsburg, and Ronnie Phillips, 19, of Decatur, are guilty of charges of assault and battery, attempted rape, indecent assault and battery, and open and gross behavior.
The three are accused of assaulting two other students during a Philipsburg-Osceola field trip in April 2000. Prosecutors say the defendants flashed one student and attempted to force him to give them oral sex and sexually assaulted him and another student over two nights....
Excerpts from article Posted on Fri, June 20, 2003
Former P-O Students on Trial in Sexual-Assault Case
Alleged 2001 Events Occurred on Field Trip
Centre Daily Times, Pennsylvania
Three former Philipsburg-Osceola Area High School students appeared in a Massachusetts courtroom Thursday to face trial for sexually assaulting two fellow male students in a hotel room during a field trip two years ago. Garrett Broberg and Benjamin Walker, both 20, of Philipsburg, and Ronnie Phillips, 19, of Decatur, each are charged with multiple counts of indecent assault and battery, open and gross behavior, assault and battery, and one...
