NORWICH – Following three days of testimony and more than two hours of deliberation, a Chenango County jury returned with a guilty verdict in the case of The People vs. Michael C. Thiel, the Otselic man originally charged with second degree assault, a class D violent felony, in an attack on Plymouth resident Bill Buckley.

It was alleged that Thiel, 39, on or about May 22, of 2012, with intent to cause serious physical injury to another person and with intent to cause physical injury to another person, seriously injured Buckley, 57, outside of the Otselic American Legion.

Thiel was accused of striking Buckley in the face with a closed fist, causing him to lose consciousness. It was also alleged that after Buckley lost consciousness, Thiel continued to strike Buckley’s face repeatedly with closed fists.

According to medical records and the sworn testimony of witnesses, Buckley began to asphyxiate from blood flooding his lungs after the altercation. Jessica Romanus, an Otselic American Legion bartender and a trained EMT, recognized the symptoms, rolling Buckley onto his side and preventing him from drowning in his own blood.