The woman said during testimony that she had to undergo surgery to repair the tendons so that she could regain the use of her left hand.
The Mercer County Criminal Courthouse at 209 South Broad Street in Trenton on Wednesday, July 25, 2012.
A jury in Superior Court found a Trenton man guilty of assaulting his ex-girlfriend with a metal broom two years ago in the Princeton Township apartment where they both lived.
Jerry Vazquez, 35, was convicted of second-degree aggravated assault, weapons offenses and criminal restraint for the May 2010 incident in which his girlfriend suffered a severe cut to the arm which severed several tendons.
The woman said during testimony that she had to undergo surgery to repair the tendons so that she could regain the use of her left hand.
The verdict concluded a week-long trial that saw both Vazquez and his ex-girlfriend took the stand to tell their versions of the incident.
The woman told the jury that she and Vazquez had gotten into an verbal argument and he began hitting her with the metal broom so hard that he actually broke it in half on her body. When Vazquez hit her again the jagged metal sliced open her arm, Assistant Prosecutor John Boyle said.
“She was injured pretty badly,” Boyle said.
Vazquez testified that the woman started the fight and he was acting in self defense when he pushed her onto the couch where she was cut with the broomstick.
Vazquez’s attorney Michael Amantia argued during his closing statements to the jury before they began deliberating that the woman instigated the fight and hit Vazquez several times with the broom. He said that just because Vazquez did not suffer an injury does not mean that he was not the victim in this case.
“Injury does not equal victim,” Amantia said. “He gets whacked in the back of the head with that broom and he has to defend himself. “
Boyle tried to debunk the argument that Vazquez was acting in self defense, saying that he outweighed the woman by about 40 pounds, and that she required the use of a cane to walk because of a bad knee.
“He threw her on the couch and she got stabbed,” Boyle said during his closing arguments. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
“He is able bodied and has every advantage in a fight,” Boyle said.
Boyle added that the woman’s wound was defensive, on the outside of her arm, and was consistent with her putting her arm up to block the metal broomstick.
After the jury announced the verdict, Vazquez was taken into custody. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 1.
Contact Jenna Pizzi at jpizzi@njtimes.com or (609)989-5717.