WARWICK — A judge dismissed the domestic-violence charges against former boxer Vinny Paz in Kent County District Court yesterday, rendering the initial conversation the alleged victim had with police inadmissible after the woman failed to appear in court.

“[Paz’s right] to confront the witness or question her recitation of events is a strict principle that will not be disregarded,” Judge William C. Clifton said.
Paz turned himself in to the police July 30 and was charged with domestic simple assault and domestic disorderly conduct. The alleged victim is Paz’s fiance, Ashley P. Spencer, 25, of Eliot, Maine. On July 27, the police found Spencer, with a bloody nose and crying, on Cowesett Road, not far from Paz’s home, at 54 Tivoli Court. She spoke to the police and was later questioned at the police station. A warrant was issued for Paz’s arrest the next morning.

Prosecutors tried to get Spencer’s initial comments to police admitted to the court record under an exemption to the hearsay rule, which allows so-called excited utterances — spontaneous statements made while under stress from the event — to be entered without further testimony from the witness.

But Spencer’s statements were not impulsive, said Paz’s lawyer, William Devine. “She had time to reflect,” Devine said. “[Her subsequent responses] ‘Nothing happened. I don’t want to say,’ are indicative of someone who was reflective and very careful about what she has to say.”

That reflection, Judge Clifton said, defied the very spirit of the excited-utterance clause.

“The lynchpin of the excited utterance [statute] is that it should be spontaneous in nature,” he said.

That decision classified Spencer’s statements as testimony, which means that she would need to avail herself to a questioning from the defense as a part of Paz’s Sixth Amendment right to confront his accuser.

However, officials were unable to locate Spencer in Rhode Island, Maine or Massachusetts, said Warwick Solicitor Robert Sgroi, who prosecuted the case. A request to allow the prosecution another week to find Spencer was denied. Paz and his lawyer, William Devine, said yesterday that they have had no contact with Spencer since the case began.

“I suspect if the woman wanted to prosecute, you wouldn’t have to look for her; she’d be at your doorstep,” Clifton said before dismissing the charges. “I’m convinced she’s voluntarily secreting herself.”

That may be only partly true, said Deborah Debare, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

“The basic dynamics of domestic violence involve a pattern of fear and intimidation that occurs behind the scenes,” she said. “It can be very intimidating for a victim to go to court.”

The coalition works with the police, lawyers and judges to show them how they can still prosecute a case even without eyewitness testimony. But the key, Debare said, is constant education and awareness of these techniques.

“Laws are crafted to enable prosecution to move forward without the victim,” she said. “We’ve been training police officers on how to collect a solid package of evidence without relying on victim testimony.”

For his part, Paz said he did not feel he was targeted by the police, though the spotlight had been rough.

“I don’t like people looking at me like I’m a domestic abuser,” Paz said. “This has been the worst month of my life.”

The charges didn’t seem to impede Paz’s popularity at the courthouse. People steadily approached the five-time world boxing champ to share memories, catch up and in some cases, wish him luck as he waited for his case to be called.

“Vinnie, good luck,” one woman whispered to the former boxer as she left the courtroom.

Paz, a Cranston native and current Warwick resident, changed his legal name from Vincent E. Pazienza to Vinny Paz four years ago. During his fighting career, he won five world titles at lightweight, junior middleweight, and super middleweight. Paz has worked as a TV sports commentator and endorsed a number of products since his retirement from boxing, in 2004. He is currently playing the lead role in the movie Thunder Doyle, which is being filmed in Rhode Island, and said he was promoting Headstrong, a DVD of his career highlights.