An Everett man pleaded guilty yesterday to hitting a woman in the head with a Louisville Slugger baseball bat on Halloween in the North End two years ago.
Carmen Picardi, 41, of Everett, pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for the 2010 attack on a 21-year-old Medford woman. Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Walsh recommended a sentence of three to five years in state prison, but Suffolk Superior Court Judge Carol S. Ball gave Picardi a sentence of two to three years.
Picardi will begin his sentence on Jan. 4.
Had the case proceeded to trial, Walsh would have introduced evidence to prove that Picardi – wearing a costume consisting of a baseball uniform, face paint, and a wig modeled after the “Furies” gang members in the movie The Warriors – took a full swing and struck the back of the victim’s head with the baseball bat. He then fled in a taxi along with three other people. A substantial investigation conducted by the Boston Police Department and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office eventually determined that Picardi had committed the attack.
The victim suffered serious injuries from the attack that required reconstructive surgery to repair her skull and underwent intensive speech, occupational, and physical therapy as part of her lengthy recovery from the traumatic injury.
“I went from working a full-time and part-time job, having fun with my friends, doing everything on my own, to not being able to be home alone, drive, work, or even do the things I wanted to do when I wanted to do them. It was very hard to go from feeling like an independent, hardworking, carefree young woman, to feeling like a helpless, hurting child who had to learn how to live again,” the victim said in her impact statement to the court.