NORTHAMPTON — A Springfield man was sentenced Friday to two years in county jail on charges stemming from a December 2017 incident at an Amherst apartment complex where he shot a man in the leg during a fight.
Malek F. Bosmond, 26, was sentenced by Hampshire Superior Court Judge Richard Carey to two years in the Hampshire County Jail and House of Corrections, 18 months of which is mandatory, on a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm. Carey also sentenced Bosmond to two years probation on a charge of reckless assault and battery with a dangerous weapon to be served following his jail sentence.
Bosmond was found guilty by a jury after approximately four hours of deliberation on Thursday to the two charges for which he was sentenced, according to the Northwestern district attorney’s office. The jury acquitted Bosmond of assault by means of a dangerous weapon and witness intimidation charges.
After coming to the home of Jessica Santana at Mill Valley Apartments in Amherst multiple times with Akeili Brown on the night of Dec. 19, 2017, Dion Cadiz, Santana’s boyfriend at the time, became upset and called Bosmond where they “exchanged words,” First Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne said during the trial’s first day on Tuesday.
An upset Cadiz called his stepfather, Charles Simmons, to come over since he believed there would be a fight, Gagne said on Tuesday. In the early morning hours of Dec. 20, Bosmond and Brown came to Santana’s house, when in the chaos of a fight, Bosmond shot Simmons through his right leg, Gagne said.
During Bosmond’s sentencing on Friday, Gagne said that although Bosmond may have not initially instigated the fight, he was nonetheless culpable for his actions.
“Dion Cadiz was the one who lit the match that night,” Gagne said during the sentencing. “But I would suggest Mr. Bosmond and Mr. Brown then proceeded to pour gasoline upon it.”
Gagne said Bosmond was “ready for trouble” when he arrived to the apartment complex on Dec. 20, driving down the road with no headlights and fanning out when he arrived. He said the courts have been attempting to take a more “holistic, rehabilitative and restorative approach” to lower-level crimes, but that Bosmond’s case was different.
“This is a crime of violence involving reckless conduct with a firearm where somebody was shot,” he said before asking for a three to five-year state prison sentence for the firearm charge and two years probation for the assault and battery charge.
Bosmond’s defense attorney, Alfred Chamberland, said that if the state wasn’t bound to minimum mandatory sentences, he would be asking for probation — instead, he asked for two and half years in the county jail on the firearm charge and two years probation for the assault and battery.
“I admit this was a very serious incident, and a very serious event, and also very bad judgment on Mr. Bosmond’s part,” Chamberland said, before asking for a stay on the sentence, which Carey denied.
After the sentencing, Chamberland said he was disappointed that the jury didn’t see the reasonable doubt in surveillance photos that captured the incident, though he respects the jury’s verdict.
“It appeared to me, from the photographs, that the person that was identified as Mr. Bosmond in the front of the house wasn’t the person that was engaged in the fight,” Chamberland said.
Gagne said following sentencing that he was “pleased the jury saw the truth and held Mr. Bosmond accountable for a very serious crime.”
Bosmond was credited for 10 days served, with probation conditions that prohibit contact with Santana, Simmons and the Mill Valley Apartment Complex, along with submittal to random drug screenings.
Michael Connors can be reached at mconnors@gazettenet.com.