Man gets two years for clobbering 87-year-old Schenectady resident

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

Twenty-year-old David Tarver declined to give a statement at his assault sentencing Wednesday morning, and it appeared just as well that he didn’t.

Tarver admitted in April that he punched a man more than four times his age — 87-years-old — in the face. The man was later diagnosed with bleeding on the brain.

As part of the deal, Tarver agreed to a sentence of two years in state prison, a deal accepted by the judge only due to possible prosecution difficulties proving the man’s injuries were caused by the punch.

“I have to be honest with you, Mr. Tarver,” Schenectady County Court Judge Karen Drago said as she sentenced him, “there’s probably very little you could say to me. … You assaulted a man in his late 80s because a dog ran through his back yard. There is absolutely no justification for what happened that day.”

Tarver was accused of grabbing the man by the shirt through a fence, and punching him Aug. 16 on Broadway, according to papers previously filed in the case. The victim had spotted Tarver‘s friend in his yard and asked Tarver what he was doing.

A week after the incident, the victim could barely stand and pushed his Life Alert. After being taken to the hospital, he was diagnosed with bleeding on his brain.

Tarver was also later accused of throwing a metal pot through the victim’s car window, shattering the glass.

Tarver’s prison sentence was set as part of the plea deal. The only part left to be decided was his post-release supervision. It could have been as little as 11⁄2 years or as high as three.

Tarver’s attorney, John Della Ratta, argued for 11⁄2 years saying Tarver’s plea was an acknowledgement that his reaction was inappropriate at the very best.

When Della Ratta suggested that he didn’t feel the maximum number was warranted, Drago pointedly asked why. Della Ratta responded that Tarver will do two years in prison, he has expressed remorse and his criminal history was minimal.

“I think this is more of an isolated incident,” Della Ratta said.

Prosecutor John Healy had already recommended the maximum, three years. “It does appear,” he said, “that the defendant has some anger management problems that parole might be able to help.”

Drago concurred. She also noted that she went along with the plea only because of the difficulty prosecutors would have had connecting the man’s injury to Tarver’s punch. Plea offers are subject to the judge’s approval.

She also said Tarver should participate in any anger management programs available in prison. “It appears to me, no matter who said what to whom, you have very little impulse control,” she said.