Former MA state senator admits to groping women, will serve 3 months jail, 5 years probation

(Original Post 6-6-08)
Senator is admitted to psych hospital Marzilli is seeking treatment after arrest

By Steve LeBlanc THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON— A state senator arrested this week on charges of attempting to grope one woman and making lewd comments to a second was admitted to a psychiatric hospital yesterday. State Sen. James J. Marzilli entered the hospital hours after saying he would not seek re-election in the fall. The decision came a day after he was arraigned in Lowell District Court on multiple charges related to the arrest. Marzilli’s lawyer confirmed that he was seeking treatment.
“Senator Marzilli was admitted into a local hospital for treatment for an undisclosed illness this afternoon,” said Marzilli’s lawyer, Terrence Kennedy. A source close to Marzilli said on condition of anonymity that Marzilli was seeking treatment at McLean Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Belmont.

Marzilli, 50, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he tried to grab a woman sexually at a park in Lowell, then fled police, and to charges he made lewd remarks to another woman. Charges against him include disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, assault and battery and obstruction of justice. Marzilli is free on bail and due back in court July 3.

A spokesman for the Middlesex district attorney’s office said investigators were looking into other incidents possibly involving Marzilli, including one last year in Arlington and another in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood two years ago. Investigators also were looking into whether Marzilli was involved in other incidents in Lowell before his arrest.

Last month, Middlesex District Attorney Gerald T. Leone Jr. declined to charge Marzilli after a woman claimed he had touched her inappropriately in April, saying there was insufficient evidence.

Marzilli was arrested Tuesday after a woman told police he approached her while she was sitting on a park bench and tried to grab her crotch. A second woman called authorities after seeing media coverage of Marzilli’s arrest and said Marzilli made lewd comments to her. Kennedy said his client “totally denies” the charges.

(Update 2-23-11) Marzilli was sentenced to three months in jail and probation by Judge Paul Chernoff at Lowell Superior Court yesterday. Marzilli will serve his sentence at the Billerica House of Correction. For the first year of his probation, Marzilli will serve his first year under GPS monitoring and must do 200 hours of community service. A charge of attempted indecent assault and battery was stayed for a year, meaning that if the GPS monitoring goes without any hitches, Marzilli won't have to register as a sex offender.

In the city [of Lowell, MA]on June 3, 2008, for a function at Federal Fabrics-Fibers, Marzilli approached the women both on foot and in a car over the course of four hours, making lewd remarks about their bodies. They, in return, called him a pervert and told him to spend $20 on a hooker.

Middlesex District Attorney Elizabeth Dunigan said that some of the victims are afraid to go to Lowell, MA and that “At the time of his arrest, he was focused on himself, his career, his future. Maybe in time it can be a little bit about what these women lost on the streets of Lowell."