Dear Editor:
(Re: "A new look at 'Justice for Jason'," Alana Goodman, Editorial, September 19)
We are the lawyers for Jason Vassell. As lawyers, we are limited in what we can say about the evidence in a pending case by our rules of professional responsibility. However, those rules do permit us to protect our client in a situation like this where substantial, undue prejudice may result from recent pre-trial publicity.
The Daily Collegian's column by Alana Goodman on Sept. 19 contains many distortions and inaccuracies. At a minimum, the following points need to be corrected:
First, Goodman describes Jason as 5-foot-10" and 200 pounds. In actuality, Jason is 5-foot-9" and weighed approximately 185 pounds at the time of the incident. It is clear from the video evidence that Bosse is at least as tall as Jason and that Bowes is substantially larger.
Second, two white female UMass students who were in Jason's first-floor dorm room describe the incident as beginning when Bosse and Bowes were observed peering into Jason's window at 4:30 a.m. When Jason pulled the shade down and told them to leave, they began to call him a "pussy," "nigger," "retard," and "bitch" and eventually smashed the window. A third white female next door was awakened by the racist taunting.
Third, whether the force used by Jason was excessive will be an issue at trial. (Although Goodman claims that Massachusetts law only permits an individual to use force "equal to the force received," in reality, an individual may use as much force as is reasonably necessary to avoid the immediate danger of serious injury). It would be inappropriate for us to take a position on that in this letter. However, the entire fight was captured by dormitory surveillance cameras. Anyone who has seen the video (as Goodman obviously has not) can see the following:
Jason never leaves the dormitory lobby.
Jason's friend, Vishan Chamanlal, never raises a hand to anyone and repeatedly tries to keep between the assailants and Jason.
Jason is clearly holding a small pocket knife and, according to Mr. Chamanlal's narration of the incident, repeatedly holds it so that the assailants can see it and tells the assailants to leave and not to touch him. In Bowe's interview with police, he admits that he and Bosse wanted Jason to put the knife down and fight them.
Jason never had an iron in his hands at any time the assailants were in the dormitory.
Bowes clearly throws the first punch, which broke Jason's nose.
As to whether Bosse was a peacemaker as Goodman claims, we would note that:
The evidence that Bosse was the individual who smashed Jason's window during the initial racist taunting is compelling. Bosse was bleeding from a cut on his hand before the fight began according to Chamanlal. Bowes was not.
In the video, Bosse is seen pushing up the sleeves on his arms as he and Bowes continue to move towards Jason, even after they see the knife.
After Bowes throws the first punch, Bosse is seen throwing punches at Jason and Chamanlal.
Even after Jason uses the knife, Bosse and Bowes continue to advance on Jason until Jason is backed into a corner.
The fight ends only when Jason retreats behind a locked door. After he does so, Bosse kicks and punches at the door for several minutes screaming racial slurs and demanding that Jason return to "finish the fight."
Even Bowes, when interviewed, agreed that Bosse was using the "N-word," while kicking and punching at the door behind which Jason had escaped. He also agrees that Bosse "definitely could have" used the "N-word" while they were still outside. Bosse claims to have no memory of the incident.
This letter does not contain all of the information in our possession about this incident. It contains only the factual information necessary to rebut what we feel was an extremely distorted and uninformed version of the incident that was written by Alana Goodman. Whether Jason's actions were justifiable will be determined by a Hampshire County jury. We hope that the University community will withhold judgment of Jason until all the facts can be revealed.
