A judge released Caleb Gannon—the Newton man shot after tackling a protestor at a pro-Israel rally in September—on personal recognizance bail at his arraignment at the Newton District Courthouse on Monday.
Gannon was also ordered to stay away from the victim of the alleged assault, Scott Hayes, 47, of Framingham, and to return to court on Feb. 3 for a pretrial hearing.
Hayes has been charged with assault and battery with a deadly weapon for allegedly shooting Gannon and has pleaded not guilty, claiming self-defense. He was released on $5,000 bail after his arraignment on Sept. 13.
Prosecutors requested a curfew for Gannon between 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. enforced by a GPS monitor, and that Gannon be held on $5,000 bail.
Prosecutors described the September incident, saying that Gannon had “verbally antagonized” the group of pro-Israel protestors, then started to cross the street. Gannon backed up when Hayes warned him that he had a gun, according to prosecutors.
Seconds later, however, Gannon charged across the street, tackling Hayes. Hayes and Gannon wrestled on the ground, then Hayes shot Gannon in the abdomen, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors described how two other individuals struck Gannon several times before the fighting stopped and Hayes provided aid to Gannon.
They said that it appeared Gannon had anger control or mental health issues, and that Hayes appeared to have facial injuries after he was tackled.
The defense countered that releasing Gannon with a simple no-contact order would be more appropriate, citing that Gannon had no previous criminal record and since Gannon would not likely face jail time for his charge, he would be unlikely to flee.
Gannon’s lawyer, Steve Colella, said Gannon “almost died” and is “forever incapacitated” after being shot. Gannon appeared in court holding a cane.
Colella said Gannon was in the hospital for 38 days following the September scuffle, where three of those days were spent in a medically induced coma.
After the arraignment, Colella said he was pleased with the judge’s ruling.
“I’m a happy man,” Colella said. “I wasn’t asking for anything unreasonable. The district attorney’s request was out of the ballpark.”
Hayes’ legal defense fund has drummed up more than $267,000 in donations and he has been active on X following the incident, posting photos from a pro-Israel protest most recently on Dec. 28.
Hayes is not Jewish, according to his GoFundMe page. Gannon told The Heights that he is Jewish.
Zionist organizations including Betar USA have called for the charges against Hayes to be dropped.
“Caleb Gannon needs to be put on terrorist watch lists, not coddled,” the organization wrote in a statement Monday.
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