Wife-Beater’s Jail Term Causes Uproar

CONCORD, N.H. — Victims’ rights advocates are in an uproar over the case of a man who got only a 29-day jail sentence, to be served on weekends, for beating his estranged wife so badly she needed 17 stitches for her wounds.

The judge said the attack was not “completely unprovoked” because Stephen Sarno had found Susan Sarno in bed with another man. The Sarnos had been separated for a year.

Gov. Steve Merrill said he would ask for a transcript of Judge William O’Neil’s May 27 remarks and meet with the Carroll County Superior Court system’s chief justice.

Sarno, 40, of Assonet, Mass., faced 3 1/2 to 7 years in jail on a felony assault charge for the August, 1992, beating. But he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor assault. One advocacy group asked for the prosecutor’s resignation Thursday, and Wolfeboro police were outraged at the plea bargain.

“This is the most pathetic excuse for justice I’ve ever seen,” Lt. Robert Tierney said last week. “This lady has permanent facial disfigurement. This was a serious, violent, unjustified attack.”

Susan Sarno, 32, was camping at Wolfeboro when her estranged husband arrived and found her in a tent with the camp’s cook.