For Immediate Release December 5, 2008                              
Contact: Corey Welford/Jessica Venezia 781-897-8325

Boston Men Guilty For Kidnapping And Beating Hyde Park Man
Defendants Assaulted Police Officer During Arrest

WOBURN – Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone’s office informed the public today that two Boston men were found guilty yesterday by a Middlesex Superior Court Jury for assaulting, beating, and kidnapping a Hyde Park man, as well as attacking a police officer.

Harold Smitherman, 37, of Dorchester, and George Powell, 42, of Boston, were found guilty of kidnapping, armed assault to murder, assault and battery with a deadly weapon, and assault and battery on a police officer. 

Both men will be sentenced January 20, 2009 by Superior Court Judge Hiller Zobel.

According to authorities, on September 13, 2006, a Medford Police Officer was on duty when he observed the victim, age 32, bound and gagged with duct tape and bleeding all over his body.  The victim told the officer that he had been kidnapped.  Two witnesses alerted the officer to the direction that the suspects had fled and the officer broadcast the suspects’ descriptions to the Medford police department.  The victim was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital to treat multiple stab wounds.

The defendants were spotted by two members of the Medford police department who observed that they fit the description of the broadcast.  The officers stopped their cruiser and identified themselves as Medford Police officers and ordered them to stop moving and place their hands on the vehicle.

While attempting to stop the defendants, one of the officers observed that one of the defendants, Smitherman, was raising a gun at the other responding officer.  After a struggle involving both officers, Smitherman dropped his gun, but not before Powell hit one of the officers in the back of the head with a blunt object, splitting his head open.  Backup arrived and both Powell and Smitherman were subdued and taken into custody.

Officers subsequently recovered the gun that Smitherman pointed at the officers, a knife, a roll of duct tape, and a necktie from the defendants.

Through the course of the investigation, it was discovered that the defendants hit the victim from behind with an object, kidnapped him in Hyde Park, stabbed, him and bound him with duct tape in the car.

Smitherman and Powell were indicted by a Middlesex Superior Court Grand Jury on November 16, 2006.  They were arraigned on December 7, 2006 before Middlesex Superior Court Judge Christopher Muse and ordered held without bail.  

Their trial began on November 21.

The case is prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Melinda Thompson. The victim witness advocate is Daniela Bianco.

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