A prominent Haverhill contractor and ardent marijuana foe has to wait three more months to have his day in court after a judge delayed his trial on charges including assault and battery on a police officer, WHAV can report exclusively.
Accused of threating to “f—king kill” Haverhill Police Officer Branden Sheehy during a September 2018 altercation at his Lancaster Street home, Lloyd Jennings appeared in Haverhill District Court Tuesday. His attorney Carmine Lepore asked Judge Mary McCabe to continue the case until mid-December, telling her he did not receive the second page of the complaint from the clerk’s office and needed more time to prepare for trial.
Breaking up what he called a “domestic disturbance” on the night of Sept. 2, 2018, Sheehy was met with a “highly confrontational” Jennings, who hurled expletives at the officer before punching him in the shoulder. According to Sheehy’s police report, it took two other officers to control Jennings in order to handcuff him. In the process, Jennings allegedly told six-year department veteran Sheehy he was going to “break (his) f—king jaw” and find out where he lived and murder him, among other threats.
During the ride to the Bailey Boulevard police station, Jennings repeatedly smashed his head into the Plexiglas divider of the cruiser, Sheehy said. He later refused medical attention from Trinity EMS and “threatened to fight if any paramedics touched him.” The cruiser had to be professionally cleaned and decontaminated at a cost of $300 to the city.
In addition to the assault and battery charge, Jennings also stands accused of defacing property and resisting arrest. He is also charged with one count of disorderly conduct and one count of intimidating a police officer.
The continuance comes as Jennings is embroiled in two other cases of note in Haverhill. As WHAV previously reported, Jennings joined forces with Realtor J. Bradford Brooks and City Council candidate Stavros Dimakis in June to contest the zoning of Caroline Pineau’s Washington Street marijuana shop Stem. Longtime small business owner and Haverhill resident Pineau received her special permit from the City Council earlier this summer, and later filed her own standalone civil lawsuit that leveled claims of extortion and harassment on the part of Jennings and Brooks.
Both the civil and land court cases are ongoing.