Woman accused of beating mom 'loves her'

The Oakdale daughter charged with beating her mother with the woman's own cane cares deeply for and feels protective of her parent, the daughter's attorney said Friday in court.

Nancy Boland, 56, was already charged with first-degree manslaughter in the death of her ex-husband when authorities said she took her mother's metal cane and beat her in the face and body with it last month. Boland, a clerk in State Supreme Court in Suffolk, was also charged in 2010 with punching a woman in the face in a parking lot.

Boland pleaded not guilty Friday in Suffolk County Court to an indictment charging her with first-degree assault. Between this and the manslaughter charge, she faces a maximum of 50 years in prison.

"She loves her mother," said defense attorney David Besso of Bay Shore, as his client cried quietly.

Both she and her mother, Marie Wieden, 83, were regularly abused by Boland's ex-husband, Walter Boland, 58, Besso said. Nassau prosecutors said that in November, Boland stabbed him in the stomach at his North Bellmore home and drove around for hours with his body in her trunk before dumping it by the side of the Wantagh State Parkway just north of the Sunrise Highway.

She had just remodeled her Oakdale house to accommodate her mother, when the women -- both still coping with the aftereffects of abuse -- argued and fought, he said. Despite the charges, Besso said his client is not a violent woman. "She rescues animals," he said. "She's a peaceful person."

Boland had been free on $1 million bond when she attacked her mother, who has a heart condition and hypertension, Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Dana Brown said.

"The risk of death in this case was great because of the defendant's actions," Brown said. She asked that Boland be held without bail.

Judge Martin Efman ordered her held on bail of $100,000 cash or $250,000 bond. He also issued an order of protection that requires Boland to stay away from her mother.

Boland wiped away tears as she signed it.