Woman gets work crew for 2016 assault in Proctor

A woman whose 2016 assault on a Proctor woman was captured on video was sentenced on Tuesday to spend 14 to 15 days on work crew.

Morgaine E. Chuderski, 29, of Rutland, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in Rutland criminal court to misdemeanor count of simple assault.

In an affidavit, Trooper Jonathan Hall, of Vermont State Police, said police were dispatched for a report of an assault in Proctor on Sept. 26, 2016.

Tiffanie Felix, 28, told police that six people had come to her home and assaulted her.

In a statement, Felix said she was in her home when she heard people outside calling her name. She said she went outside and one woman hit her in the head and knocked her to the ground.

“At this point, all Felix could see … was several feet and that Morgaine Chuderski was coming to kick her,” the affidavit said.

Felix said she was kicked and her hair was pulled. She said her son’s father tried to help but was blocked by the people attacking her.

Hall said Felix told police she thought the only reason the assault stopped was because some of her neighbors had come outside and the people committing the assault were afraid police would be called.

Felix had several scrapes and “had a huge amount of hair missing,” the affidavit said.

A neighbor provided security camera footage to police. Hall said Chuderski can be seen “throwing one punch at Felix and kicking her approximately eight times while Felix is on the ground.”

Hall said Chuderski was arrested in Rutland later the same day as the assault.

On Tuesday, Ian Sullivan, a deputy state’s attorney for Rutland County, asked Judge Thomas Zonay to sentence Chuderski to 19 to 20 days in jail.

Felix was not in the courtroom but Sullivan said she had been told Chuderski was expected to change her plea and be sentenced. He said she had been supportive of a sentence that included some jail time.

Zonay asked why the group of people attacked Felix. attorney Matthew Hart, who represented Chuderski, said he believed “it has to do with guys and things like that.”

“Stupid. Stupid by all means. Dumb but Ms. Chuderski’s involvement, although as I stated, stupid, she should not have been involved, she was not the main player. She was there. She didn’t pull any hair. The kicking that she did do, it looks like it was to Ms. Felix’s butt and legs. In any event, I’m not trying to excuse that kind of conduct,” Hart said.

Hart said Chuderski wanted to leave Vermont and asked for a sentence such as paying a fine or community service that would allow her to move to Minnesota as soon as possible.

Zonay asked Chuderski why she would assault Felix.

“It was a stupid mistake. It was the people I was hanging out with. I was making bad choices. … It was a big mistake. I regret it,” she said.

Chuderski said she wanted to apologize to Felix but she wasn’t allowed to have contact her.

After Chuderski told Zonay she didn’t want to live the same life anymore, Zonay asked why she used to live that life.

“I have a lot of reasons, but honestly, I think they’re just excuses. I lived it because that’s the way I wanted to live at the time thinking it was cool. Really, it wasn’t. I lost a lot because of it. It took me a while to realize it,” she said.

Chuderski was one of five Rutlanders charged in 2013 for drug crimes. Chuderski, who pleaded guilty to a federal charge of selling crack cocaine, said she served four months in federal prison.

She said that while she was sentenced to serve two years, most of the time was served while awaiting sentencing.

Zonay, before sentencing Chuderski to serve on the work crew, pointed out that while she said she wanted to change her life, the assault happened after she served two years in a federal prison.

Hart said Chuderski has also received other punishment when her federal probation was extended six months because of the charges resulting from the assault.