FARMINGTON — A Franklin County jury will continue deliberations Thursday in the case of two people charged in an April 2012 ax attack.

The two people are accused of a late evening attack against a Farmington couple with an ax and a meat cleaver at their residence on Poverty Lane.

The jury deliberated three hours Wednesday afternoon before signaling they wanted to go home and return in the morning.

Prior to the jury getting the case, Justice Michaela Murphy granted motions for judgment of acquittal on felony burglary charges and a misdemeanor charge against Brian Sweeney, 32, of Rumford and Shari Dupree, 32, of Wilton after hearing arguments from defense lawyers Woody Hanstein and Ron Hoffman.

Murphy said there was not enough evidence on the two charges and that the state was silent on who had the right to exclude someone from the home and there was no record of who owned the mobile home or leased it. The judgments were granted when jurors were outside the courtroom.

Sweeney and Dupree no longer face those charges, but each is still charged with aggravated assault on Jeremiah Gattis and assault on Stephanie Buzzell, Gattis’ girlfriend.

During closing statements Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Joshua Robbins told jurors that they heard two versions of the event. Buzzell and Gattis testified they heard a tap on a bedroom window just after going to bed on April 3, 2012. When Buzzell opened it, an ax came crashing the window, showering her with glass.

Gattis testified that he raced to the front door and saw an ax coming through the glass door and Sweeney reaching in to open it. Gattis grabbed the ax from Sweeney and the two struggled with it on the stoop, Robbins said. Gattis also testified that though he couldn’t see Dupree, he recognized her voice and she was hitting him over the head with a meat cleaver.

There is another version of what happened, Robbins said. “It will be your job to make sense of what happened.”

Hanstein and Hoffman told the jury that their clients never changed their stories and they received the most serious injuries in the incident. They said their clients turned themselves in. Sweeney spoke to police and told them they had it wrong and it was they who were attacked, not Gattis and Buzzell, Hanstein said.

Hoffman said Dupree did “not have a dog in the fight.”

Farmington police officers took the stand Tuesday and described what they did and saw, including a bloody meat cleaver, a window and a broken-glass door with glass falling inside the residence. They arrived within minutes of the report of the incident. They took photos of the injuries, including a gash on Gattis’ forehead and his bloody hands and Buzzell’s cuts and abrasions from broken glass.

Police did not take photos of the defendants’ injuries, defense attorneys argued. Hanstein also argued that Gattis’ medical record did not support being beaten over the head with the cleaver, among other injuries he claimed.

Farmington police Sgt. Edward Hastings IV testified that he went to talk to Dupree days after the incident to see if Sweeney was there. He recorded the visit unbeknown to her. In the recording played in court, Dupree said she didn’t know why Gattis attacked her outside the home. She had gone to give Sweeney a ride to get his clothes, she said. She knew both men.

On Wednesday, state’s witness Kim Welch said it was Gattis who was in a rage. She also testified that she told Sweeney she would go get his clothes for him and he told her not to.

Kenneth Sprague of Wilton testified that Dupree called him late April 3 or early April 4 and was hysterical. She told him she had gone to give Sweeney a ride to Gattis’ house to get his belongings, he said.

Gattis testified that Sweeney, who was a good friend and a roommate at times, had been asked to leave earlier that day after the two had an argument over a tattoo. The argument escalated into a texting war.

Sprague, who has known Dupree since she was born and she currently works for him, described her as being a mother figure who tries to provide for her children. He said he has never seen her be violent.

Sprague said he went to her home that evening when she called him and saw Dupree and Sweeney and a lot of blood. Dupree had a serious cut on the back of her arm and Sweeney had injuries on his neck and leg, Sprague said.

He said he suggested they call the police, but Dupree wouldn’t because she was terrified of retaliation from Jeremiah Gattis, Sprague said.

He said he wanted to take Dupree to the hospital, but she wanted to make sure her children were taken care of. She went the next day and returned with stitches in her wound, he said.

Robbins asked why Sprague didn’t call police.

“It was not my place to call police,” he said. “She was scared to call police. She was more scared of retaliation.”

Nicholas Shink of Jay testified on behalf of Sweeney. He said that once the story was made public last year, people came to him and told him that that they had never known Sweeney to be violent. Sweeney is peaceful, very soft spoken and giving, Shink said.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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