Rutland Herald
A Rutland jury on Friday returned not guilty
verdicts on two felony assault charges brought against a Killington man
charged with shooting his roommate and his own girlfriend during an
early-morning fight in March.
After three days of testimony, jurors acquitted Justin Bitar of aggravated assault with a weapon and aggravated domestic assault in the first degree.
Bitar, 28, stood stoically while the verdict was read, but his fiancee, 25-year-old Jessica Martome — who Bitar was charged with shooting in the leg — wept with joy while seated behind the defense table.
“I believe in the system,” Bitar said standing with Martome in a hallway outside the Rutland criminal courtroom after the trial ended.
The couple offered their thanks to public defender Robb Spensley, who defended him at trial, and Martome even thanked Deputy State’s Attorney Peter Bevere when he exited the courtroom after a failed attempt to convict Bitar.
“I’m not sorry you lost but you’re a good person,” she said.
Prosecutors and police charged Bitar with using a .22-caliber pistol to shoot his roommate, 25-year-old Matt Dunn, in the leg while Dunn lay prone at the end of a fight that played out in Bitar’s 2841 Killington Road bedroom on March 17.
Bitar was also charged with domestic assault for allegedly recklessly discharging the firearm and shooting Martome while the two men grappled for the gun.
The trial came down largely to two descriptions of the fight — one told by Bitar and Martome and the other by Dunn and his friend who was not involved in the fight but witnessed it.
During closing arguments on Friday morning, Bevere told jurors that Bitar went beyond the reasonable use of force to defend himself when he shot Dunn, who was lying on the floor with his pants pulled down after a lengthy melee in which Bitar used the butt of the gun to hit his roommate over the head.
“He hit (Dunn) in the head, punched him in the groin and kicked him in the face,” Bevere said. “The defendant stated that Matt Dunn was on the floor with his pants around his ankles and his friend was trying to pull him out the door but Justin Bitar decided enough is enough so he put the gun to his leg and pulled the trigger.”
“Before he did it, Ms. Martome said to him ‘What good would this do?’ and he turned his back to her and said, ‘This is over’ and shot (Dunn) in the leg. Ladies and gentlemen, I would say that leads to the unassailable conclusion that Justin Bitar committed a crime here,” the prosecutor added.
But Spensley argued that the prosecution’s conclusion didn’t account for a ruse that he said Dunn and his friend used to convince Bitar to put down his gun during the fight and go to the aid of his wounded girlfriend.
When the gun was left unattended, Spensley said Dunn picked it up, pointed it at Bitar and pulled the trigger — but the safety was on and it didn’t go off.
After wrestling the gun away and knocking his roommate to the floor, Bitar was taking no more chances, Spensley said.
“Justin knows this is only going to end by disabling Matt somehow,” he said. “Mr. Bitar took the necessary actions to defend himself and his girlfriend.”
brent.curtis @rutlandherald.com
After three days of testimony, jurors acquitted Justin Bitar of aggravated assault with a weapon and aggravated domestic assault in the first degree.
Bitar, 28, stood stoically while the verdict was read, but his fiancee, 25-year-old Jessica Martome — who Bitar was charged with shooting in the leg — wept with joy while seated behind the defense table.
“I believe in the system,” Bitar said standing with Martome in a hallway outside the Rutland criminal courtroom after the trial ended.
The couple offered their thanks to public defender Robb Spensley, who defended him at trial, and Martome even thanked Deputy State’s Attorney Peter Bevere when he exited the courtroom after a failed attempt to convict Bitar.
“I’m not sorry you lost but you’re a good person,” she said.
Prosecutors and police charged Bitar with using a .22-caliber pistol to shoot his roommate, 25-year-old Matt Dunn, in the leg while Dunn lay prone at the end of a fight that played out in Bitar’s 2841 Killington Road bedroom on March 17.
Bitar was also charged with domestic assault for allegedly recklessly discharging the firearm and shooting Martome while the two men grappled for the gun.
The trial came down largely to two descriptions of the fight — one told by Bitar and Martome and the other by Dunn and his friend who was not involved in the fight but witnessed it.
During closing arguments on Friday morning, Bevere told jurors that Bitar went beyond the reasonable use of force to defend himself when he shot Dunn, who was lying on the floor with his pants pulled down after a lengthy melee in which Bitar used the butt of the gun to hit his roommate over the head.
“He hit (Dunn) in the head, punched him in the groin and kicked him in the face,” Bevere said. “The defendant stated that Matt Dunn was on the floor with his pants around his ankles and his friend was trying to pull him out the door but Justin Bitar decided enough is enough so he put the gun to his leg and pulled the trigger.”
“Before he did it, Ms. Martome said to him ‘What good would this do?’ and he turned his back to her and said, ‘This is over’ and shot (Dunn) in the leg. Ladies and gentlemen, I would say that leads to the unassailable conclusion that Justin Bitar committed a crime here,” the prosecutor added.
But Spensley argued that the prosecution’s conclusion didn’t account for a ruse that he said Dunn and his friend used to convince Bitar to put down his gun during the fight and go to the aid of his wounded girlfriend.
When the gun was left unattended, Spensley said Dunn picked it up, pointed it at Bitar and pulled the trigger — but the safety was on and it didn’t go off.
After wrestling the gun away and knocking his roommate to the floor, Bitar was taking no more chances, Spensley said.
“Justin knows this is only going to end by disabling Matt somehow,” he said. “Mr. Bitar took the necessary actions to defend himself and his girlfriend.”
brent.curtis @rutlandherald.com
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