Derry’s former Town Administrator will appeal a guilty finding in his trial last week for one count of indecent exposure.
John Anderson, 51, was found guilty by Judge Lucinda Sadler of the 10th Circuit Court in Derry, after an Aug. 19 trial. She issued her verdict Thursday, Aug. 21.
“We were disappointed in the verdict, but we know that was just the beginning of the case,” Anderson’s attorney, James Rosenberg, said in a phone interview Monday. “John intends to exercise his right to appeal, and looks forward to being tried by a jury of his peers.”
Anderson’s sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 12. The crime, a misdemeanor, is punishable by up to a year in county jail. A second misdemeanor charge was dismissed by Sadler.
Assistant County Attorney Kirsten Wilson, who represented the plaintiff Errol Flynn, said, “Obviously we are pleased the court found Mr. Anderson guilty. Judge Sadler found the victim’s story credible.”
Wilson said the verdict refutes Rosenberg’s closing argument, in which he stated that Flynn had an “obligation to explain that he was offended. That is not true,” Wilson said.
Wilson said she is currently preparing her sentencing argument.
She said she is unaware of Flynn’s seeking any compensation for his ordeal, noting, “That would be a civil matter.”
Asked why no one from DirecTV testified at the first trial, Wilson said, “I’m not sure what anyone from DirecTV could have added.” She said Flynn is no longer employed by the company, and when both she and Rosenberg requested copies of DirecTV’s salesperson training materials, they received no response.
In the Aug. 19 trial, Rosenberg argued that Anderson was within his rights to be nude in his own home and that Flynn’s lack of an immediate exit, and his leaving of a flier with his contact information, showed that Flynn was not offended and was interested in “pursuing a relationship.” Wilson argued that Flynn was simply interested in closing the sale, and Flynn stated that he left the flier because he wanted to leave proof that it had been a sales call.
Anderson was arrested last summer following a July 11 incident in which he is alleged to have exposed himself and masturbated in front of Flynn, then a DirecTV salesman going door-to-door. Anderson was placed on paid administrative leave July 12, taken off administrative leave in August, placed back on in October and terminated his contract with the town Oct. 25, 2013. He had worked for the town for three years, coming from Boothbay, Maine in October 2010.