Sabo proceedings delayed

Pre-trial motions in Boston University ice hockey assistant captain John Sabo’s trial were postponed yesterday until April 23, after Sabo told Judge R. Peter Anderson that his original lawyer, David Eisenstadt, last week withdrew from the case and was replaced by Richard Egbert.

Sabo, a Metropolitan College senior, was charged last month with assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery and threats, after being accused of attacking School of Management senior Christopher Boccuzzi last Sept. 22 outside The Avenue, a Brighton bar. According to Brighton District Police Detective Arthur O’Connell, Boccuzzi required major surgery and ‘plates in his face.’

Egbert, former defense attorney for Judge Maria Lopez, said he has been Sabo’s new lawyer since ‘a week or so ago’ and still needs ‘a lot of information [he hasn’t] yet been provided with,’ such as medical records that were just released by St. Elizabeth’s Hospital.

However, Egbert said he was confident of a favorable verdict.

‘We have a firm belief [Sabo] is not guilty of the charges against him,’ Egbert said. ‘He will be found not guilty.’

Egbert said he did not know why Eisenstadt left the case.

O’Connell, the officer in charge of Sabo’s investigation, said a new lawyer is not an unusual development in a case like Sabo’s. The case will proceed as planned, he said.

The district attorney’s office now must furnish the defense with recently released medical records and any statements the defense requests, O’Connell said.

Those records include the results of Boccuzzi’s initial visit to St. Elizabeth’s after the alleged assault and those of his reconstructive surgery, O’Connell said.

David Procopio, spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney, said the trial was proceeding ‘typical’ to those of its kind, and this kind of trial could take ‘several months’ before it is finally resolved.