Dr. Richard Gordon is appealing his conviction of simple assault and disorderly conduct after he hurled racial slurs at his neighbor during an argument.
Whether assault was sparked by race remains unresolved
February 3, 2021 GMT
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) A retired Rhode Island doctor charged with assaulting his neighbor while shouting racial epithets was convicted Wednesday, but whether the state’s hate crime law applies, as prosecutors allege, remained unresolved.
Richard Gordon, 71, of Barrington, was convicted of simple assault and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors, in connection with the Aug. 3 altercation with Bahram Pahlavi over a property boundary dispute.
Gordon exited his house and assaulted Pahlavi after Pahlavi replaced a surveyor’s stake in Gordon’s front yard, prosecutors said. The victim was standing in the street, which divides the two properties, according to prosecutors.
PROVIDENCE The Barrington doctor accused of assaulting his neighbor while hurling racial epithets was convicted Wednesday in an attack that spurred outrage and protests.
District Court Judge Stephen Isherwood found Dr. Richard Gordon guilty of simple assault and disorderly conduct in the Aug. 3 altercation with Bahram Pahlavi over a boundary dispute in the Rumstick Drive neighborhood.
But Judge Isherwood appeared, at least initially, to clear Gordon, 71, of the more serious allegations that the assault was driven by animus based on Pahlavi’s Iranian heritage. State prosecutors had been seeking jail time for Gordon under the Rhode Island Hate Crime Sentencing Act.