Babylon assistant town attorney faces assault trial

A special prosecutor in the case of Lindsay Henry, a Babylon Town attorney charged with assaulting his girlfriend, said he expects the case to be dismissed Friday if the alleged victim continues not to appear in court.

The case is scheduled for trial Friday in First District Court in Central Islip. The prosecutor, Ian Fitzgerald, said he does not expect the woman to appear, as she has not appeared at two earlier trial dates.

Continuing the case after that would violate the speedy trial right of Henry, who pleaded not guilty in September to the misdemeanor third-degree assault charge of recklessly causing physical injury, Fitzgerald said.

“The prosecution has to be ready for trial within 90 days of commencement of the case,” he said. “We have no witness, so we can’t be ready.”

Special prosecutors are usually assigned to avoid conflicts of interest. Henry’s father was a Suffolk district attorney, and his sister is a district court judge in Suffolk.

According to a complaint filed in September, the charge stems from a “verbal dispute” in Oak Beach that month during which Henry allegedly threw “a necklace containing a sea-glass pendant striking [the woman] in the forehead causing lacerations, swelling, redness, substantial site pain and a headache.”

The complaint attributes the account to Suffolk Police Officer Dane Flynn.

Neither the woman nor Henry’s attorney William Wexler responded to requests to comment.

In an earlier case, police in East Sandwich, Massachusetts, on July 4 arrested Henry after allegedly assaulting the same woman, according to police and court records. Henry pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge of assault and battery on a family or household member.

According to that police report, the woman told the responding officer that Henry “was upset because she was not helping the kids get ready fast enough for” an outing.

“Lindsay had put one hand on her neck and pushed her to the floor,” the woman told the officer. She told the officer she was not injured, according to the report. The case was dismissed in August because of “Failure of Victim to Cooperate,” court records state.

Babylon Town Supervisor Richard Schaffer declined to say whether he reviewed the records when he offered Henry, a former Babylon Town councilman, the $50,000-a-year job as a part-time assistant town attorney.

“I vetted former Councilman Henry’s legal situation with his personal attorney and was satisfied with the information I received. If Mr. Henry is found guilty, he will be terminated immediately,” Schaffer wrote in an email.

Schaffer did not respond to a question about whether his vetting included speaking to the alleged victim.