PROVIDENCE The Barrington doctor accused of assaulting his neighbor while hurling racial epithets was convicted Wednesday in an attack that spurred outrage and protests.
District Court Judge Stephen Isherwood found Dr. Richard Gordon guilty of simple assault and disorderly conduct in the Aug. 3 altercation with Bahram Pahlavi over a boundary dispute in the Rumstick Drive neighborhood.
But Judge Isherwood appeared, at least initially, to clear Gordon, 71, of the more serious allegations that the assault was driven by animus based on Pahlavi’s Iranian heritage. State prosecutors had been seeking jail time for Gordon under the Rhode Island Hate Crime Sentencing Act.