Maynard Wrote:OMG!!! WHAT HAVE I DONE!!!!

Maynard Wrote:I was chopping wood that day...

Quote:John Christian Broderick told Manchester police detectives he hit his father, New Hampshire Supreme Court Associate Justice John T. Broderick, repeatedly with a guitar early Saturday morning, according to a police affidavit filed with Manchester District Court.

Yesterday morning, Christian Broderick, 30, was arraigned on one count of first-degree assault for his alleged role in the brutal assault on Justice Broderick.

Bail was fixed at $100,000 cash, with a probable cause hearing scheduled for April 10.

State prosecutors told the court that the assault, which left Broderick so badly beaten his face was unrecognizable, stemmed from an argument between father and son on Friday.

“The drinking began during the evening. The more (Christian Broderick) drank, the more he stewed about the fight,” Senior Assistant Attorney General Will Delker said in court.

After beating Broderick with the guitar, Delker alleged, Christian Broderick left his parents’ home with the instrument, and disposed of it.

Yesterday, law enforcement sources close to the case said they weren’t sure what type of guitar it was, but that they had not yet recovered it.

Christian Broderick showed little emotion as he sat with other prisoners in the dock.

Clean shaven and of small build, and dressed in a prisoner’s orange uniform, he sat largely silently before and during his hearing, even as other prisoners talked among themselves.

He spent most of the session staring: at court personnel, at the far wall, occasionally at the audience.

Christian Broderick’s only words to Judge R. Laurence Cullen: “I’ll request a bail review when I get an attorney.”

He also requested a court-appointed lawyer.

Delker told the court that Christian Broderick presented “a serious danger to the community,” noting his past, and the possibility the younger Broderick could go on the lam.

If convicted on the first-degree assault charge, Christian Broderick could receive between 7½ and 15 years in prison.

“He does have a prior criminal record,” Delker said. “Specifically, he was convicted Feb. 26, 2002, of unarmed robbery in Massachusetts. He is on probation on that charge out of Massachusetts.”

Christian Broderick also had past convictions for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, Delker said.

“He does pose a risk to the community and he does pose a flight risk,” Delker said.

He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and resisting arrest on Sept. 12, 2000. The charges were in connection with a May 12 incident at a Walnut Street home in Manchester when he refused to leave the residence. He was fined a total of $2,000, of which $1,400 was suspended for one year on the condition he complete counseling.

If Christian Broderick posts bail, authorities will forbid him from possessing weapons, drinking alcohol, coming with 100 yards of Justice Broderick, and visiting either Elliot Hospital — where his father was in serious condition yesterday — or the family’s condominium at 300 N. River Road in Manchester.

More details about what happened at the Brodericks’ home on Saturday morning were revealed in the police affidavit supporting the warrant for Christian Broderick’s arrest.

According to the affidavit, Broderick’s wife, Patricia, called 911 at 2:20 a.m. to ask for an ambulance to treat her husband. She asked the operator not to involve police.

Manchester police arrived on the scene to find ambulance crews treating Broderick for his injuries, the affidavit said.

The document said one policeman, walking through the condominium to see if anyone else had been attacked, reported blood-soaked towels throughout it.

There was a large pool of blood on the pillow and bedding in the master bedroom, on the floor and couch in the den, and on the floor of the guest bedroom.

The affidavit also said that Patricia Broderick told police several times she suspected her son had attacked John Broderick.

Father and son had argued all day, she said, but had made up by the evening.

After she and her husband went to bed, she couldn’t sleep, so she went into a spare bedroom — only to be awakened later by her husband after the attack.

“Look what he did to me,” she said John Broderick had said, according to the affidavit.

He was covered in blood from his head down to his legs.

He had a broken jaw, facial fractures, lacerations and at least one missing tooth, the affidavit said.

Officers also found the keys to the couple’s Saab had been taken, and that the car was gone. So was Christian Broderick, the affidavit said.

He returned about 4:30 a.m., when officers were still on watch.

The affidavit said that Broderick had asked how his father was, if he was all right, and if he had gone to the hospital.

The document also said Christian Broderick asked those questions without being given any information by police concerning what had happened.

Broderick also had the Saab’s keys on him when he returned home.

Christian Broderick, who police say was inebriated at the time, was then admitted to Catholic Medical Center in Manchester for observation.

About 4 p.m. on Saturday, police spoke with him.

The police affidavit said he had discussed “a long history of conflict between himself and his father,” and then talked about what happened Friday and Saturday.

“Christian stated that as he thought about things, he became increasingly angry,” the affidavit read. “Christian stated that after drinking approximately four alcoholic drinks, he went into his bedroom and got a guitar. He stated that he then took the guitar and went into the bedroom where John Broderick was sleeping, and he hit him with it a number of times.”

The court’s two full-time judges, William Lyons and Norman Champagne, had recused themselves from the case.

Cullen, a part-time judge, presided at the session.