A Medford man who assaulted a Harvard student outside of Claverly Hall last month was given a suspended sentence last week for assault and battery.

Allan Hamilton, who attacked Daniel J. Greaney '86-'87 on December 7, will be sent to jail for a year if he commits another grievous offense within the next 18 months, according to Assistant District Attorney John Ciarli.

Cambridge District Court Judge Lawrence F. Feloney, who is presiding over the case, also sentenced Hamilton to 50 hours of community service and a 12-week stint in an alcohol rehabilitation program.

According to Ciarli, Feloney sent Hamilton to the alcohol rehabilitation program because evidence suggested that Hamilton was inebriated at the time of the incident.

Hamilton and three companions attacked Greaney and two friends, Christopher J. Riley '86 and William Kaplan late one Saturday night. According to Greaney, he and his companions were waiting outside Claverly Hall for a third friend, Andrew R. Mann 86, to throw them his keys so they could enter the building.

When the keys landed a few feet from Hamilton's feet, he and his friends threw a bottle at Mann's window and challenged the three students on the street to a fight, said Greaney. Despite his protests, Greaney was beaten, kicked and knocked unconscious.

Greaney was taken to Cambridge City Hospital where he was treated for a concussion. While three of Greaney's four attackers escaped, Hamilton was arrested near Claverly Hall immediately after the incident.

"The verdict seems fair," said Greaney yesterday.

According to Ciarli, Hamilton is appealing the sentence thus Monday. He could not be reached for comment.