DiPerna, Moore guilty in Roxen Road assault

Mere minutes after the attorneys finished their closing statements, the Roxen Road assault trial ended late on the afternoon of Jan. 22, with Matthew DiPerna and William Moore found guilty of misdemeanors, third-degree attempted assault and third-degree assault, respectively.

The three other defendants — Kevin Coyle, Nolan Kelly and William Nelson — were found not guilty of all charges.

In addition to the relatively minor misdemeanor charges, the five boys were originally charged with two felony assault charges, which were dropped or reduced by Nassau County District Court Judge Christopher Quinn. Moore faces a maximum sentence of a year in jail, and DiPerna faces up to three months.

Quinn delivered the verdict after a brief announcement forbidding outbursts in the courtroom. (The defendants had waived their right to a jury trial, opting instead to be tried by Quinn.) The decision came more than 18 months after DiPerna and Moore engaged in a midnight fight with Eton Road resident John Woythaler, after allegedly verbally harassing his wife, Meredith. The scuffle put Woythaler in the hospital with injuries to his jaw, lip, ribs and knees, among others.

“How do you justify attacking one man with five people?” asked Brian Lee, the prosecuting attorney, in his closing statement. “ … They’re athletes. They’re no strangers to contact. There’s no sense of, ‘Oh, we’re so afraid.’”

The teenagers were accused of shouting obscenities at Meredith Woythaler late in the evening of June 18, 2012, as she walked her dog down Nottingham Road. She grew fearful, according to police, and ran home to tell her husband about the incident. The two then drove around the neighborhood looking to demand an apology from the teens, before finding a group of similarly dressed boys on Roxen Road. The defense maintained that there was not enough evidence to determine whether they were the same group she encountered on Nottingham Road.

When John Woythaler confronted the group, a fight broke out, during which he was injured. His wife testified that she was pushed to the ground during the scuffle, but she did not sustain any injuries, nor did Don Schulz, a neighbor who attempted to break up the brawl.