Man convicted in assault on BU professor

Wiesel attacked at San Francisco peace conference

A San Francisco jury convicted a New Jersey man yesterday in the assault on Holocaust survivor and Boston University professor Elie Wiesel last year.

Eric Hunt, 23, of Vernon, N.J., was convicted in Superior Court of California of false imprisonment with a hate crime allegation, a felony, officials announced yesterday. He was also found guilty of misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor abuse in the Feb. 1, 2007, incident in San Francisco, according to the office of District Attorney Kamala D. Harris.

According to reports at the time, Hunt had dragged Wiesel, who was then 78, off an elevator at the Argent Hotel, where Wiesel was speaking at a peace conference.

The jury found Hunt not guilty of attempted kidnapping, false imprisonment by violence or menace, false imprisonment of an elder, and stalking.

Wiesel, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, survived Nazi death camps during World War II and gives an account of it in his book "Night."

"Crimes motivated by hate are among the most reprehensible of offenses," Harris said in a statement.

"This defendant has been made to answer for an unwarranted and biased attack on a man who has dedicated his life to peace."

Hunt had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity for part of the trial, according to his defense attorney, John Runfola, who said Hunt had thought at the time that the Holocaust was a lie and that he was going to prevent a World War III with Iran and then be elected president.

Hunt was in a mental health facility in New Jersey at the time of his arrest in February 2007, Runfola said.

Runfola said the defense showed through the three-week trial that Hunt had no history of anti-Semitism or bigotry and that he needed psychiatric care. He said the defense is happy with the outcome of the trial.

"We're extremely pleased," he said. "We're about as pleased as we can be on this."

BU officials could not be reached for comment.

The maximum penalty for false imprisonment with a true hate crime allegation is three years in state prison, according to the district attorney.

Misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor elder abuse carry maximum county jail terms of six months each.

Runfola said they will try to get Hunt's sentence reduced to probation with credit for time served and mental health provisions when he is sentenced Aug. 18.