Stabbing suspect taunts lawyer

DEDHAM -- Two days after Che Sosa allegedly stabbed his defense attorney in court, Sosa taunted the lawyer yesterday when both returned to the courthouse for the first time since the attack.

"You still breathing?" a smiling Sosa said to Malden lawyer John J. Courtney during a brief Norfolk Superior Court hearing when Sosa was given a new attorney to represent him on rape charges.

Sosa laughed loudly and had an ominous greeting for Superior Court Judge Charles Grabau, who was on the bench when Sosa allegedly used a makeshift knife to slash Courtney in the face and stab him in the right collarbone on Tuesday.

"I'm baaack," Sosa said, with a grin. He paused then said to the judge: "How ya doing, sir?"

Sosa was escorted into and out of the High Street courthouse by a phalanx of State Police and Middlesex Sheriff's deputies wearing tactical protective gear, including chest armor, helmets, and face shields.

At least six deputies surrounded the burly Sosa, who remained handcuffed and shackled during the brief hearing.

Grabau ignored Sosa's theatrics. He told Sosa that Joseph F. Krowski, a veteran Brockton criminal defense lawyer was his third and final attorney. If Krowski drops out, the judge told Sosa, he will represent himself when tried for nine counts of aggravated rape stemming from a 2001 attack on a Quincy woman.

He also told Sosa that he will be handcuffed and shackled in all future court appearances including in front of any jury during trial. Grabau then bowed out of the case, saying he could be a witness against Sosa if he is prosecuted in the attack on Courtney.

Spokesmen for Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating and Middlesex Sheriff James V. DiPaolo, whose deputies transported Sosa from MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole on Tuesday, said the incident remains under investigation and declined comment. A Department of Correction spokeswoman said Sosa was strip-searched in his high-security cell before he was handed over to Middlesex deputies. She declined further comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

Outside the courthouse, Courtney, 60, refused to criticize his former client. The attack left him with a long scrape on his nose and a puncture wound to his right collarbone.

"I guess I was lucky," said Courtney, who was treated at a Boston hospital and released. "It hit the bone."

Courtney said he and others familiar with Sosa sensed that the volatile 37-year-old, who also faces sex crime charges in Suffolk and Middlesex counties, would erupt on Tuesday when jury selection began. Courtney would not explain what prompted those concerns.

Suddenly, Sosa slashed him with a knife fashioned out of plastic, Courtney said.

"It felt like I was getting punched around the head," he recalled. "And the next thing I knew, I was flat on my back, and there was a group of people on top of me, which I think was all the security people."

Courtney said a court officer pulled him out of the struggling mass of people, helped him to his feet, and handed him a tissue to stem blood flowing from his nose.

Courtney said he watched as security personnel struggled to get Sosa under control. Courtney was later taken to the judge's lobby, where an EMT discovered the puncture wound.

Courtney said the attack was the first time in 32 years as a lawyer he faced violence from a client. He said he believes Sosa's actions were unique.