Larry Cirignano Must Now Face Court Trial For Assault On Sarah Loy As Well As A Civil Rights
Violation For His Actions In December 2006 VoteOnMarriage "Rally For Democracy"
A Clerk in the Worcester District Court found this morning that Larry Cirignano, Director of the Catholic Citizenship (a leading support organization for VoteOnMarriage), "probable cause" for Cirignano to be tried on BOTH Assault Charges and Civil Rights Violations against the straight, female equality supporter, Sarah Loy.
BayWindows was the first to report on the outcome of the trial as reporter Ethan Jacobs waited to hear the Clerk's ruling at today's 8:15 AM hearing in the Worcester District Court. Though no press or members of the general public were allowed inside the Clerk's Hearing, Ethan was able to interview Sarah Loy and others just outside Room 417 as the ruling became public. Susan Ryan-Vollmar, BayWindows editor, told KnowThyNeighbor that her newspaper and the Worcester IndyMedia Center were present and I confirmed earlier that the Worcester Telegram and Gazette also had a reporter on site. Rich Nangle, the T & G reporter who originally covered the story back in December, was a key witness to the assault and was undoubtedly a witness in today's hearing.
KnowThyNeighbor had a strong presence at the Worcester Version of the "Rally For Democracy" staged at the Worcester City Hall by VoteOnMarriage, the Catholic Citizenship and the Massachusetts Family Institute. What is truly amazing is that the assault on Sarah Loy by Larry Cirignano happened within view of Kris Mineau, Evelyn Reilly, Ambassador Ray Flynn and various clergy members and politicians. As a matter of fact, I saw Cirignano seconds after the assault make his way back to the podium area and stand right next to Evelyn Reilly of the MFI. Mineau's demeanor toward me after this horrible incident certainly made me wonder how much he personally witnessed. Now that Cirignano faces a jury trial (arraignment date set for April 11th) on both the count of assault and of civil rights violations, I wonder if there will be any apology for or condemnation of this attack on a pro-equality supporter by one of "their own." Or will they continue to blame Sarah Loy, the Gay Community and KnowThyNeighbor.
It has been brought to the attention of KnowThyNeighbor from a first person account of Tuesday's Clerk Hearing that Rich Nangle was not present but made the court aware of his being out of town on business. This account of the hearing also includes the fact that NO eyewitnesses to the December 16th assault on Sarah Loy were called for testimony on February 20th. The only people beside the Clerk Magistrate to speak of the actual assault were the victim, Sarah Loy, Larry Cirignano and Cirignano's Attorney. Cirignano's attorney strategically requested that both charges (assault and civil rights violations) be handled together and not separately. The request was granted but failed as BOTH charges were found to be of sufficient evidence to warrant a trial.
Tom Lang, Co-Director