Prosecutor in closing arguments of Planet Fitness beating trial: 'Just watch the video'

Partially obscured by a bin of prosecution material, Jordan Lamonde, right, confers with his defense counsel John Durkin today prior to closing arguments. (Rochester Voice photo)

DOVER - Some 14 months after a surveillance tape showing the sheer brutality of a Planet Fitness beatdown in the Rochester gym's parking lot sparked public outcry, the lead prosecutor in the case ended his closing argument against the man charged in the attack by telling jurors, "Just look at the video; it's all the proof you need."

The jury in the case against 23-year-old Jordan Lamonde of Portsmouth began deliberations today after lunch after a brief two-day trial ended with closing arguments around noon.

The prosecution rested its case today after calling one final witness, a Frisbie Memorial Hospital paramedic who treated beating victim Erin McCarthy, 19, the night of the attack June 12, 2017.

Paramedic Joshua Gagnon said when he got to the gym about four minutes after he got the dispatch call around 10:12 p.m., he found McCarthy "tearful and crying" as she spoke to a police officer.

He said she complained of a headache from the 40-odd punches Lamonde had delivered, had a blackened left eye, lacerations under the eye and on the left hand and hip.

Defense lawyer John Durkin, meanwhile, elicited responses from Gagnon that showed that despite the beating McCarthy had taken, she was standing on her own, completely conscious and had normal vital signs.

The victim refused transport - because she said she couldn't afford it - but under Gagnon's advice went to the hospital later for a CAT-scan to see if there had been any brain injury, which came back negative.

The prosecution and defense then rested their cases after which the jury was excused and Durkin immediately asked for a dismissal on the grounds the attack didn't rise to the level of extreme indifference to life, which is necessary to prove a felony second-degree assault, the most serious charge Lamonde faces.

He also faces three simple assault charges, which are Class A misdemeanors punishable by a year in jail each. The second degree assault can draw a seven-year prison stint.

After brief arguments from both Deputy County Attorney Tim Sullivan and Durkin, Strafford County Judge Mark Howard denied Durkin's motion to dismiss.

What followed were closing arguments from both sides that closely resembled the ones they'd just used during the motion to dismiss.

"There was no bleeding from the nose, no gun, no verbal threat," Durkin said. "There was no extreme indifference to life."

He called Lamonde's actions "immature" and unacceptable, but not to a felony assault level.

Meanwhile, Sullivan said the attack showed "extreme indifference to the life of Erin McCarthy. This was violent, dangerous and unprovoked, risking her death.

"Anytime you hit someone in the head, that's why they wear helmets in the NFL and have mats on the floor of the boxing ring."

He pointed out that Lamonde had thrown a haymaker over the victim's right shoulder and into the right side of her head "designed to put her down," he said. "He was trying put her down with one punch."

Miraculously, McCarthy stayed up, but still took a pummeling during the 28-second attack.

Finally Sullivan touched on the alleged motive behind the attack, that McCarthy's boyfriend had supposedly stolen $30,000 from Lamonde and this was payback.

"But he didn't go after (the boyfriend)," Sullivan said. "He goes after Erin.

"This is not a man who made a mistake, he was trying to send a message to her boyfriend who he thought had stolen $30,000 from him."

During much of his closing Sullivan played the video of the entire beating for the jury to watch.