BEVERLY — A divorced Beverly father will spend two years on probation and must attend anger management classes after he was found guilty yesterday of beating up his ex-wife's new husband in May.
But while Lawrence D. Kudlik, 51, of 2 Bartlett St., Beverly, was found guilty of a misdemeanor count of assault and battery, the Salem District Court jury cleared him of two more serious charges, one of them a felony charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a person over 60, and the other a charge that he threatened to kill the man.
Even the prosecutor acknowledged that Kudlik was likely "at the end of his rope" after a bitter divorce and custody battle, during which his ex-wife's new husband, Robert Womack, sent him a humiliating email suggesting that Kudlik must have felt "emasculated" by the recent turn of events in his life.
Defense lawyer Bill Delaney explained that turn of events: a 21-year marriage come undone, followed just three months later by his ex-wife's new marriage to Womack, who moved into what used to be Kudlik's Boxford home. Meanwhile, Kudlik had been experiencing financial setbacks, so broke he couldn't afford to get his car out of the shop and was barely able to pay child support.
Then there was the email, in which Womack told Kudlik: "In one year, you have lost everything: a beautiful wife, a beautiful home and your children, you're driving them away." Womack even took the opportunity to disparage the appearance of a woman Kudlik was dating at the time.
Delaney, in his closing argument, compared that email to the red slushies tossed by the popular kids on the television show "Glee."
And then there were gestures toward Kudlik at the daughter's soccer games and calls to the police by Womack when Kudlik showed up to pick up his daughter for visits, Kudlik testified.
Womack admitted sending the email, saying it was in response to Kudlik being "very, very mean to me."
"You've been kind of mean to him, too, haven't you?" Delaney suggested.
"I haven't been mean to him in person," Womack said.
Around the time of the incident, Kudlik's ex-wife had asked the Probate and Family Court for permission to move to Utah with their daughter and her new husband.
"He spiraled out of control," prosecutor Michelle DeCourcey told the jury yesterday afternoon. "He lost it."
Kudlik admitted punching Womack, 61, as the latter sat parked across the street from Kudlik's home on the evening of May 8 — Mother's Day — in his silver convertible, after Womack showed up alone to pick up Kudlik's 13-year-old daughter from a weekend visit.
"I wouldn't let him be alone with (her)," Kudlik told the jury when he testified in his own defense.
So when he got a message from his ex-wife saying Womack was there to pick up the girl, Kudlik was angry.
He said he told Womack that he had just wasted a trip because the daughter wasn't going anywhere with him.
There, the stories diverged: Womack testified, tearfully, that Kudlik rained down blows to his head as he sat in the car, cowering, then told jurors that Kudlik grabbed the seat belt and began strangling him with it.
"I'm terrified of him," Womack testified.
Kudlik, however, told jurors that as he turned to walk away, Womack threw open the car door, hitting him in the groin, then appeared to be getting out.
Kudlik admitted that he ended up on top of Womack in the little two-seat sports car but said Womack had grabbed the straps of his overalls.
A neighbor who saw what was happening went outside and pulled Kudlik off Womack.
Kudlik, after his arrest, spent seven days at Middleton Jail — housed in a gang unit, according to Delaney — before being released.
Judge Robert Brennan told Kudlik that he hoped that served as a wake-up call, before sentencing him to probation and ordering anger management classes.
"Hopefully, for the sake of their children, these people can move forward and behave more respectfully toward each other," Brennan said. "The children are the ones that end up suffering the most."
Courts reporter Julie Manganis may be reached at 978-338-2521 or jmanganis@salemnews.com.
Police: Man Arrested in Etan Patz Disappearance
Hurricane Forecast: 15 Named Storms Expected
NYC Protests: the Revolution Will Be Scripted
Chicago U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald Resigns
Neighbors of Etan Patz's Suspect: It's Shocking
Search Intensifies for Missing Louisiana Woman
Bloomberg: Man Implicates Self in Etan Patz Case
NYPD: Person Implicated in Etan Patz Death
Raw Video: Fire on Nuke-powered Sub in Maine
Illegal Burn Suspected in Nevada Fire
Obama: 'We've Got More Work to Do'
Astrologers Predict Outcome of Presidential Race
Gulf Fishermen Reel From Seafood Troubles
Stuntman Makes Skydive Without Parachute in UK
FAMU Bandmates: Victim Volunteered to Be Hazed
Raw Video: Bride Who Faked Cancer Released
Raw Video: Tornado Appears During Wedding
Raw Video: Passed Out Man Robbed
Inquiry Hears Wider Secret Service Misbehavior
HP to Cut 27,000 Jobs, Save Up to $3.5B
