North Massapequa Man Convicted of Attacking 84-Year-Old Mother With Telephone John Norton faces up to seven years in prison

MINEOLA, NY – Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that a North Massapequa man already on probation has been convicted at trial of attacking his mother with a cordless telephone after she threatened to call the police on him. John Norton

It took a jury less than three hours yesterday to convict John Norton, 60, of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree, two counts of Attempted Assault in the Second Degree, and Criminal Mischief in the Fourth Degree. Norton faces up to seven years in prison at his September 12 sentencing.

Rice said that at approximately 11:15 a.m. on December 31, 2010, Norton attacked his 84-year-old mother after she threatened to call the police on him in the Mohawk Drive home they shared in North Massapequa. Norton took the cordless telephone out of his mother’s hand and hit her in the back of the head with it, causing a laceration, bleeding, and knocking her to the ground. Norton then kicked his mother on the inside of her left thigh while she was on the floor, causing massive bruising.

The victim was able to get to her feet and flee to a neighbor’s house where the neighbor called the police. Norton was living at his mother’s house while on probation for a 2010 felony-level aggravated drunk driving conviction.

The jury rejected the defense’s claims that the victim fell and that Norton did not hit her with a telephone. Norton was acquitted of Assault in the Second Degree.

“The brutality needed to beat your own mother over the head, and then kick her while she lies bloody on the ground, demands that this defendant be locked in a prison cell,” Rice said.

Assistant District Attorney Jamie Johnson of the Special Victims Bureau is prosecuting the case for the DA’s Office. Norton is represented by Roxanne Paquette, Esq.