Assault and battery

Robert Dixon is last of three defendants in a 2012 case of assault against an Amityville man.

Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a Hempstead man was sentenced to up to life in prison this week for his involvement in the violent assault of the Amityville man in 2012.

Robert Dixon, 51, of Hempstead, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison by Nassau County Supreme Court Justice William Donnino. In January, Dixon was found guilty by a Nassau jury of first-degree assault (a B violent felony), one of the top charges he faced, at the end of a nine-day trial.  The jury, which acquitted Dixon of two robbery counts, deliberated for about 90 minutes before reaching its verdict.

“This defendant took part in a brutal attack in which the victim was outnumbered, held in a chokehold, and viciously assaulted,” Singas said.

On July 13, 2012, at 3:45 a.m., Dixon and his co-defendant, Wayne Speaks, 48, of Uniondale, assaulted an Amityville man after a dispute with a woman in a Freeport motel room, said Singas. Dixon put the victim in a chokehold while Speaks slashed the victim, causing lacerations to his lip, leg and forehead. Dixon then knocked out the victim’s front teeth with an object that appeared to be a gun. The victim was later transported by ambulance to South Nassau Community Hospital for treatment of his serious injuries, which left lasting scars.

Speaks pleaded guilty in November 2014 to assault, weapons and robbery charges during a trial before Nassau County Court Judge Meryl Berkowitz. Speaks was sentenced on Jan. 9 by Judge Berkowitz to nine years in prison.

The woman, Wendi Seletsky, 31, of Hempstead, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault (a D felony) in March and, after violating probation, was given a three-year prison sentence.