Mike LaBella, The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass. –
HAVERHILL — A New Hampshire man who was charged in the fatal stabbing of a Haverhill man two years ago was found not guilty yesterday in Salem Superior Court.
Stephen O’Connell, a spokesman for Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett, said Ryan Sullivan, 23, whose last known address was in Derry, was found not guilty of manslaughter in the death of Randall Rawson, 22, of 57 Franklin St., Haverhill.
O’Connell said a 12-member jury handed down its verdict after deliberating for about 3?
1/2 hours. Judge Timothy Feeley presided over Sullivan’s trial. Assistant District Attorney Jean Curran prosecuted the case. Sullivan was represented by Attorney Edward Hayden of Lynn.
Hayden was able to convince a jury that Sullivan was acting in self defense when he stabbed Rawson.
“The evidence was pretty strong that this was an ambush and that there were three guys who set upon him and that he reacted to that,” Hayden told The Eagle-Tribune following Sullivan’s release yesterday. “Witnesses testified that it was pretty clear that this was an ambush and I feel that may have carried some weight with the jury in its decision that he acted in self defense.”
Sullivan walked out of the courthouse with his mother. Hayden said Sullivan’s mother and aunt attended the trial each day. About 15 witnesses in total took the stand for the prosecution and defense, Hayden said.
Sullivan was initially charged with murder after Rawson’s death on Oct. 30, 2010, but a grand jury indicted Sullivan on the lesser charge of manslaughter on Dec. 31, 2010. Sullivan was arraigned in Salem Superior Court on Jan. 11, 2011, where he was ordered held on $15,000 cash bail. Until his arraignment in Superior Court Sullivan was held without bail at the Middleton jail.
Hayden said Sullivan posted bail and was released on a number of conditions. Sullivan violated those conditions in April of this year and was held without bail pending his trial, Hayden said.
Neighbors told police that on the night of Oct. 29, 2010, as many as 12 people were involved in a fight outside 22 Webster St. before Rawson was stabbed in the neck.
According to a police report, the dispute began shortly after Sullivan showed up at a party at the Webster Street apartment to pick up his daughter from his girlfriend, who is the girl’s mother.
According to a police report on file in Haverhill District Court, Sullivan and the girlfriend started arguing about “trick or treating with the child.” Rawson and Sullivan got into a shouting match outside the building and began fighting, police said.
Witness told police that Sullivan stabbed Rawson in the neck. Rawson died the next morning in a Boston hospital, where he was taken after he was stabbed. A witness said Rawson and Sullivan were yelling at each other and were near Sullivan’s car. That is when Sullivan swung at Rawson and stabbed him, according to the witness account listed in the court documents.
The witness told police Sullivan began driving away while a child in the car was crying. At the same time, Rawson was either running beside the car or being pulled by it before he fell against a parked van. According to the witness, Rawson got up, said he had been stabbed, and then walked a short distance toward 22 Webster St. before collapsing. Sullivan was arrested in Derry the day after the stabbing about 4 p.m. at a rest area on Interstate 93 in Salem by New Hampshire State Police.
