State v. Izzi

Domenic A. Izzi, the defendant, was an attendant at the Rhode Island Medical Center at the time he allegedly committed an assault and battery upon Raymond Messier. Messier was then 15 years old and a resident patient undergoing treatment for mental illness at the center. The case was tried in the Superior Court before a jury which returned a guilty verdict, and it is now here on the defendant’s appeal.

The facts are uncomplicated and in any event readily related. On September 26, 1972, a dispute developed between complainant and defendant about which television program to view. It ultimately…