Libby contested the prosecution’s portrait of his client, describing Byrne as a calm and hard-working veteran cop. He also said that Byrne had faced rowdy opposition from students coming off of two alcohol-soaked nights.
In cross-examination, Libby and fellow defense attorney R. Matthew Rickman sharply questioned Trombly and Leahy on their recollections of the events of the nights in question.
When asked about specific details of his night prior to the alleged assault, Trombly replied over and over that he could not recall.
Still, Trombly, who was of legal drinking age at the time, was clear on one key point about the evening, asserting repeatedly that he had consumed at most three beers before being arrested. In a lighter moment, Trombly also recalled with accuracy the rules of the drinking game he was playing with friends that night in response to lawyers’ questions about “Beirut” or “Beer Ping-Pong.”
Regarding his client’s alleged witness tampering, Libby dismissed them as the result of a misunderstanding. Libby conceded that after reading published reports of Trombly’s broken jaw, which he believed at the time to be false, Byrne had conversations with subordinate BPD officers—but said that Byrne told them only to tell the truth, which he understood to be that Trombly had walked away from the station house without visible injuries.
Byrne’s trial began this week after almost a year of delays, false-starts and postponements. The trial date was pushed back four times, in part the result of problems Byrne had retaining counsel.
Jury selection occurred with little fanfare Monday.
If convicted, Byrne faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of as much as $250,000 for each of the five charges filed against him.
The trial is expected to run until either next Wednesday or Thursday, after which presiding Judge Richard G. Stearns is leaving for Budapest on Justice Department business regarding weapons of mass destruction.
—Staff writer Simon W. Vozick-Levinson can be reached at vozick@fas.harvard.edu.