HADLEY — The former Hadley police officer who broke an arrestee’s nose in a booking room and was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison for the incident has appealed his case.
Christopher Roeder’s lawyer, Thomas O’Connor, filed the appeal on July 3, asking for a new trial.
Roeder was sentenced on June 20 after a jury found him guilty of deprivation of rights under color of law and falsification of a document.
The charges stemmed from Roeder’s 2017 arrest of Nickolas Peters, whom Roeder elbowed in the nose while Peters was sitting on a bench in the Hadley Police Department booking room. The blow fractured Peters’ nose, requiring surgery.
The incident was recorded on video and was played as a central piece of evidence in Roeder’s five-day trial in February.
Prosecutors argued that Roeder sought to punish Peters for an incident on March 30, 2017, when, Roeder claimed, Peters struck him with his side mirror while driving through a construction zone.
Prosecutors said that on April 3, Roeder saw Peters driving again and then arrested him, charging him with 10 offenses including reckless assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery on a police officer. All of those 10 charges were later dismissed by the Northwestern district attorney’s office.
In his statement to the court at his sentencing, Roeder apologized to Peters and his family.
Roeder resigned from the town’s Police Department on May 19, 2017, following the completion of an internal investigation, according to the Hadley Police Department.
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.