Nicholas Hoar, a 37-year-old former Fall River police officer, was sentenced Wednesday to 2 years and 9 months in federal prison for striking a man in the head with a steel baton during a 2020 confrontation inside a jail cell, then lying to cover up the assault.
Hoar, who resigned from the force in February after a federal jury convicted him of depriving the victim of his civil rights and filing false police reports, declined to speak during the hearing in US District Court in Boston. He was ordered to self-report to prison in June. His lawyer said he is appealing his conviction.
The victim, 58-year-old William Harvey of Las Vegas, told the judge Wednesday that he was traumatized by the attack. He said Hoar struck him on the head with the baton following his arrest on a domestic complaint on Dec. 21, 2020, as other officers looked on, then claimed he had injured himself while falling in the cell.
“They were laughing at me like I didn’t mean anything, like I was nobody,” Harvey said, turning to Hoar, who didn’t look at him. ”You could have killed me.”
Prosecutors urged the judge to sentence Hoar to nearly six years in prison, arguing that he had a history of using deadly force — including the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old driver during a roadside stop in 2017. A wrongful death suit filed by the man’s family against Hoar and Fall River is pending in federal court.
“Police misconduct has been a problem across the nation and courts are taking the issue more seriously,” Assistant US Attorney Kristina Barclay said Wednesday, arguing that a stiff sentence for Hoar would deter other officers from violating the civil rights of citizens.
US District Judge Allison D. Burroughs said “a significant period of incarceration is warranted” for Hoar, but less than the government was seeking.
Burroughs said she wouldn’t consider Hoar’s shooting of Larry Ruiz-Barreto because the Bristol County district attorney’s office found it was justified. She also said she wouldn’t consider the fact that Hoar had filed 28 reports indicating instances where he had used force as a Fall River officer between 2016 and 2020 because they were all found to be justified.
“I’m not going to hold those against him,” Burroughs said.
Hoar’s lawyer, Leonardo Angiulo, described him as a military veteran and father of two young children who had devoted his career to public service and urged the judge to place him on probation or sentence him to house arrest. Hoar served in the US Army, then joined the Army National Guard and was deployed to Kosovo for 15 months. A number of relatives and friends wrote letters of support to the court on his behalf.
“He truly had a life of service,” Angiulo said, urging the judge to consider Hoar’s military career and volunteer work in the community. Hoar was given two life-saving awards as a police officer, including one where he used a tourniquet to save a gunshot victim, according to court filings.
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Harvey was uncooperative during booking in 2020 and Hoar escalated the situation by pushing him into a cell. After Harvey kicked Hoar, the officer asked another officer for his baton and struck Harvey on the head — knowing the blow could be deadly, according to prosecutors.
Harvey was transported to the hospital for treatment. He spent more than 200 days in jail awaiting trial on a felony charge that was later dropped. During that time, he said his mother was dying and he was unable to see her. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was placed on probation for a year.
Initially, several officers who were on duty when Harvey was assaulted said they didn’t see what happened. But, one officer later admitted he witnessed the assault and testified at Hoar’s trial.
Burroughs questioned prosecutors about why they were seeking 70 months in prison for Hoar, but negotiated a plea deal recommending probation for a Weymouth police officer who admitted he punched a handcuffed man 13 times without justification in July 2022. In that case, Justin Chappelle pleaded guilty before Burroughs on Tuesday to depriving the victim of his civil rights and is slated to be sentenced July 16. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors are urging Burroughs to consider Chappelle’s military service and spare him any prison time.
Barclay told the judge that Chappelle was a combat veteran who had served two tours in Afghanistan, had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, and immediately resigned after assaulting the victim.
“He apologized to his supervisors saying he never should have been a police officer given his mental health issues,” Barclay said. “He did not lie about it.”
Shelley Murphy can be reached at shelley.murphy@globe.com. Follow her @shelleymurph.
