WILTON – Rodney Hall, a Wilton selectman, is expected to plead guilty to a domestic assault charge Friday in Oxford County Superior Court in South Paris, said his attorney on Wednesday.
Hall, who was 37 at the time Bethel police arrested him on a charge of domestic assault against a Bethel woman on Nov. 27, maintains he is innocent, said his attorney, David Sanders.
Hall will technically enter the guilty plea in a deferred disposition under a new state alternative-sentencing program that continues the case for a year. If nothing happens during that year, Hall may withdraw his guilty plea and the case would be removed from his record, Sanders said.
The owner of Hall Farms Maple Products in East Dixfield was charged with the assault after a Bethel woman complained he pushed her into a corner cabinet in an argument at her home, according to a police report. The woman had several bruises, the report stated.
Hall had chosen to take his case to trial, but Sanders said he advised Hall to plead guilty under this agreement because he “will not and cannot run” the risk of being found guilty and losing his hunting privileges.
Sanders said a trial would be a risk because “you never know what a jury will do,” and if Hall were found guilty, he would not be able to possess a firearm.
Federal law prohibits people convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence from possessing firearms.
“Even if it’s just a shove,” Sanders said, “and that’s all we’re talking about in this case … you can’t possess a firearm.”
Sanders said Hall and the victim have each taken out protection-from-abuse orders against the other in the past and have also been involved in a custody dispute.
The victim and Oxford County Assistant District Attorney Joseph O’Connor were unavailable for comment Wednesday.
Hall is scheduled to be in court at 9 a.m. Friday.
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