01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, September 23, 2008

By Randal Edgar

Journal Staff Writer

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — An outspoken Charlestown Town Council member who admitted he pushed a camera out of his way while trying to leave Town Hall on July 14 was found guilty yesterday of assault and ordered to attend classes to help him deal with anger.

James M. Mageau, Charlestown’s acting council president, was also ordered to pay all court costs, pay for damage to the camera and stay away from the cameraman.

Mageau, 69, a one-term council member who is running for reelection, immediately filed an appeal — an action that puts the judge’s decision on hold.

“We fully expect that he will be vindicated” said his lawyer, Richard C. Corley.

It was the same prediction that Mageau made last week after testifying that he feared for his safety on July 14 and responded defensively when he struck the camcorder held by Clifford L. Vanover.

In Vanover’s video, Mageau emerges from a hallway in Town Hall, turns to his left and sees the camera. No strike is seen, but a sound is heard as the camera suddenly shifts away from Mageau.

“Get that out of my face,” Mageau shouts. Vanover responds: “That’s an assault. That’s an assault.”

Corley, in his closing argument yesterday, described Vanover as a longtime Mageau antagonist and friend of another cameraman who, like Vanover, has been disruptive at council meetings.

Corley also argued that Mageau could not be found guilty of assault because he struck a camera, not a person.

“A person is a living body,” he said, citing a definition from Black’s Law Dictionary.

Clifton rejected the legal argument, as well as the argument that Mageau felt he was in danger.

“You do not appear to be alarmed or afraid as I watch the video,” Clifton said.

Patrick Sullivan, who prosecuted the misdemeanor assault charge for the town, argued that Mageau did commit an assault because Vanover’s hand was strapped to the camera.

Sullivan also said Mageau, as a political figure, has a hard time dealing with people whose ideas are different from his own.

“His contempt for people that disagree with him just bleeds out of his skin,” Sullivan told the judge.

Mageau was jovial and smiling yesterday as he left the McGrath Judicial Complex — a sharp contrast from Thursday, when he shouted at a TV reporter for what he said was unfair coverage.

Asked if he believes he needs anger-management classes, Mageau said no, though he did allow that his responses at times “haven’t been politically correct.”

“I believe that anger is an emotion that’s an equivalent of love,” he said. “Do I need love-management counseling?”

When asked to explain the comment, he said anger is not the same as love, but is “an emotion, like love.”

Vanover, who left the courthouse well ahead of Mageau, had little to say.

“I’m not happy about any of this,” he said. “I wish it hadn’t happened.”

Clifton, in announcing the verdict, had agreed to file the case for one year, meaning it would be expunged if Mageau stayed out of trouble. The appeal gives Mageau the right to a jury trial in Superior Court, Corley said.

Also attending yesterday’s District Court session were the other three Charlestown council members — Harriett Allen, Bruce Picard and Katharine Waterman.

Allen said she was pleased to see Mageau found guilty. But Picard defended Mageau, saying that if someone stuck a camera in his face, “I think I would have done the same thing that Jimmy did.”

redgar@projo.com