Court Date Set for Former State Sen. James Marzilli

The trial for former state Sen. James Marzilli is set to begin at Monday, Dec. 6 at 9 a.m. in Middlesex Superior Court in Lowell, according to the court criminal clerk's office.

A former longtime Arlington and Lexington lawmaker, Marzilli, was expected to appear in court on July 7, but a judge's scheduling conflict postponed the proceedings. The new date was set at a hearing last week.

Marzilli is facing attempted indecent assault and battery charges stemming from a June 2008 incident in Lowell, where he allegedly made indecent sexual advances to four different women.

This past June, the State Supreme Court unanimously rejected Marzilli's attempt to have the assault case against him thrown out.

During the appeal process, Marzilli's lawyers argued that "assault and battery" must involve touch and that their client never made physical contact with his victims.

In the decision, Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall wrote for the court: "attempt to commit indecent assault and battery is a sex offense for purposes of the sex offender statute…  The fortuity that the defendant failed in his attempt to complete a crime does not absolve him from responsibility for it."

Before the appeal, Marzilli's trial was originally scheduled to begin in April 2009. At the time, prosecutor Elizabeth Dunigan said that if Marzilli pleaded guilty, she would recommend his punishment be one year in jail and four years of probation.

Marzilli, a Democrat, vacated his elected post in the fall of 2008 after being indicted.