Man Convicted of Beating Mother with Phone

Shortly after 11 p.m. on December 31, 2010, John Norton's mother threatened to call the police on him, so he grabbed the cordless phone out of her hand, smashed her in the back of the head, knocked her to the ground, and then kicked her as she lay there, the Nassau County district attorney said.

His mother suffered a bloody cut to her head and bruising to her thigh.

"The brutality needed to beat your own mother over the head, and then kick her while she lies bloody on the ground, demands that this defendant be locked in a prison cell," D.A. Kathleen Rice said.

Norton's lawyer claimed the mother simply fell and that he did not hit her with the phone.

After deliberating for less than three hours on Wednesday, a jury found Norton, 60, guilty of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, two counts of attempted assault in the second degree, and criminal mischief in the fourth degree. The jury acquitted him of assault in the second degree.

Norton had been living with his mother at her home in North Massapequa while on probation for a felony-level aggravated drunken driving conviction, the D.A. said.

He faces sentencing on September 12. He could get up to seven years behind bars.