Jury hears 2 views in woman’s assault trial

He was there to shut off power for nonpayment of her bill.

By JEANNE STARMACK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — A woman accused of beating and scratching a man who’s now the Lawrence County treasurer was in court Thursday for trial.

Fawn Cox, 28, who lives in Westview Terrace apartments on Beech Street, is charged with aggravated assault and simple assault after a fight that happened the morning of Oct. 26, 2006, outside her apartment.

Richard L. Rapone, who became treasurer in January, was still working at his former job as a credit and collections agent for Pennsylvania Power at its Mill Street office, and was at Westview Terrace to shut off Cox’s power for nonpayment of her bill.

No one is disputing that the situation deteriorated that day into the fight that led to Cox’s arrest. But in court, the two sides gave different views of why it happened.

Cox’s attorney, Harry Falls of the county public defender’s office, contends she should not be facing the more serious assault charges because she did not intend to hurt Rapone. He said that a more appropriate charge under the assault statute would be harassment.

Falls told the jury that because of a recent change in Pennsylvania law, utility workers are now included in a protected class with police officers and jail guards, so hitting one allows an aggravating circumstance to be attached to an assault charge.

He said, though, that he intended to prove Rapone was not doing his job at the time of the altercation, which happened in his car after he had shut off the power.

“His job was over by the time he was in his car, and this was just an incident between two people,” Falls said.

After Rapone shut off Cox’s power, she struggled with him in his car in the apartment complex parking lot. Before that happened, each one testified, each endured abuse from the other.

Cox said she was on the phone with Penn Power trying to arrange a payment when Rapone stopped her power and her lights went off.

Rapone took the stand and testified that he acted in a professional manner, but Cox verbally abused him.

He said he was in his Penn Power uniform and had a Penn Power sign on his car. He said he identified himself to Cox at her apartment door. He said he asked her several times if she could make a payment to keep her service, but she didn’t answer.

He said he gave her the company customer service number, then proceeded to disconnect her meter

He said that after the power was off, Cox approached his car and he rolled down his window. He said she leaned in his window, “beating me, scratching, pounding, pulling on my face.”

He said the altercation lasted about four or five minutes. He said he raised his hands to block her blows.

He said he finally was able to roll up his window and drive back to his office, where he treated himself with a first-aid kit and called police.

When Cox took the stand, she said that Rapone did not properly identify himself. She said she did not see a Penn Power patch on his uniform or a sign on his car. She said he was rude and abrupt, saying he was there to “collect or shut it off.”

She said he told her to call Penn Power to see how much of a payment they would accept to keep the power on, and she did so.

Cox said she explained to the representative at Penn Power that her 7-year-old daughter uses a breathing machine every night before bed because of asthma. The machine requires electricity.

Penn Power had been sent a document about the machine, which would prevent a shutoff, she said, but she was told to have her doctor send another one.

During her conversation, Rapone shut off the electricity, and Cox went out to find him.

She said she told him she is having a hard time paying bills. She said he told her: “You people are all the same. You never pay bills on time, then you want us to feel sorry for you.”

Falls and Cox contend the “you people” phrase referred to Cox’s race. She is black.

Rapone said he did not make the statement. “Absolutely I did not respond in such a manner to Ms. Cox,” he told Falls.

Cox said she tried to get Rapone to go speak to the Penn Power rep, who was still on the phone in her house. “I reached in and he pushed me forward. He was pulling on me as much as I was pulling on him.”

“I may have hit him,” she said, but it was not a case of just walking up to his window and punching him. She said she did not used a closed fist on Rapone.

Cox’s power was restored that same day after Penn Power received the medical certification from her doctor.

Judge Thomas M. Piccione told jurors to return this morning for closing arguments and deliberations.