The Law&Crime Network has obtained an unedited surveillance recording of a Planet Fitness employee being beaten in a Rochester, New Hampshire parking lot after leaving work. The victim, Erin McCarthy, was injured, but was able to get up and walk away after the attack. She was 18 at the time.
WATCH the full video in the player above.
The local police department previously released a small portion of the footage because McCarthy did not know or recognize her attacker. Tipsters led police to then-twenty-two-year-old Jordan Lamonde. Lamonde had access to the same type of vehicle the attacker in the recording was seen driving.
Lamonde was tried this week in Strafford County, New Hampshire Superior Court. Jurors there on Thursday convicted him after about two hours of deliberations.
Prosecutors said McCarthy was punched nearly 40 times, kneed in the face twice, and then thrown to the ground. They say Lamonde waited eight hours for McCarthy to get out of work before sneaking up behind her and attacking her.
Lamonde admitted he was the man in the video but said prosecutors overcharged him. Lamonde’s attorney said the facts of the attack suggested a simple assault, which is a misdemeanor, rather than a second-degree assault, which is a felony. Law&Crime broke down those arguments in an earlier report.
Jurors disagreed with the defense tactic and instead convicted Lamonde of the top charge he faced. Lamonde did not testify and called no witnesses on his behalf.
Authorities say Lamonde attacked McCarthy because he suspected her boyfriend had stolen $30,000 from a safe in his grandmother’s house. Whether the money was actually taken or whether it actually existed remains unclear.
Prosecutors at trial used the allegation of stolen money as motive.
The entire surveillance recording was played before jurors in open court this Wednesday and Thursday. It is the first time the entire recording has been made public.
Lamonde could face between one and seven years in prison when he’s sentenced at a later date.
[Image via Strafford County, New Hampshire Superior Court screengrab]