The trial for a crazed homeless man accused of viciously beating a good Samaritan to death as he tried to guide his neighbor home safely, began yesterday and his attorney wants the jurors to leave “sympathy” at the door.
Nicolas Nowillo, 65, suffered a heart attack as he was savagely attacked by Eric Cherry, 47, in front of Nowillo’s Astoria home on the night of Sept. 3, 2008. Nowillo, a retired jeweler, received a call from his neighbor of 30 years, Michelle Koutsovells, who noticed a suspicious man that may be “stoned or drunk as he staggered and talked to himself” on their Crescent Street block, said prosecutor Sean Clark in his opening statements.
Koutsovells asked for Nowillo to keep an eye on her as she went into her house because she was frightened by the strange lurking man that was hitting other parked cars. When Nowillo asked Cherry to stop, he flipped out and jumped the elderly man.
“This is indeed a tragedy…” said Cherry’s attorney Steven Goldenberg, who didn’t mention in openings that his client is an Iraq war veteran or suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, “but sympathy cannot play a role in this case, this hard-working man died of a heart attack not of broken ribs.”
Prosecutors intend to prove that Nowillo was punched in the face, thrown to the ground and repeatedly beaten in the chest and back by the younger, Cherry, as his wife, Dora and Koutsovells watched. Nowillo, who is also an US Army veteran, endured a heart attack, nine broken ribs and was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Cherry faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted for manslaughter, assault on an elderly person and criminal mischief charges.