EDITOR'S NOTE (9/27/2006)

All charges were dropped against Jose T. Sousa in connection with an alleged attack on an openly gay Harvard student in 2005. FULL STORY.

The two defendants charged with verbally and physically assaulting an openly gay Harvard undergraduate last fall appeared in court for a compliance hearing yesterday, in a preface to a trial marked by nearly a year of postponements.

Timothy J. Kelleher, 25, and Jose T. Sousa, 25, have pled not guilty to charges of assault and battery with intent to intimidate stemming from an incident that took place outside Adams House last April.

The two appeared in Cambridge District Court yesterday morning for a compliance and elections hearing, according to Middlesex District Attorney (D.A.) spokeswoman Melissa Sherman.

The victim of the alleged attack, Galo Garcia III ’05, contends that as he walked on Bow Street to a Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Supporters Alliance (BGLTSA) party in Adams House last April 30, he was accosted by two white men who had been looking for a parking space.

According to Garcia, the defendants began yelling homophobic and anti-Semetic slurs at him, calling him a “faggot Jew.”

Garcia said yesterday that he was disappointed with the progress of the trial and the number of postponements that have taken place.

“It’s disappointing,” he said. “I’m very frustrated.”

Sherman, the D.A. spokeswoman, said that the defendants’ appearance in court yesterday was common in the months leading up to trial.

“It was just a pre-trial hearing,” she said. “There are a number of pre-trial hearings that occur prior to any trial.”

The two are due back in court on May 17.

According to court reports, Garcia told police that the night of the incident that he began yelling at the defendants as he approached their car, calling them “assholes.” But when he was two to six feet away, Keller allegedly exited his vehicle and struck Garcia repeatedly in the chest and the head.

Garcia sustained bruises on his upper, left chest and above his temple, according to the HUPD report.

Last June, Kelleher filed a counter-complaint against Garcia, in which he claimed that he was actually assaulted by Garcia, who, along with his friends, was blocking the crosswalk and flipped Kelleher the middle finger after he honked.

The judge, however, denied Kelleher’s case.

Garcia, who was not at yesterday’s hearing, said that plans to attend the next phase of the trial.

“Obviously, it really affects me,” he said.

—Staff writer Reed B. Rayman can be reached at rrayman@fas.harvard.edu.