NASHUA – Charges accusing Wayne Garfield of threatening to kill his apartment building’s handyman while swinging a length of pipe at him last year were filed as part of the property managers’ attempt to evict Garfield because they didn’t get along, his attorney told a Superior Court jury Wednesday.

“This is a case in which his neighbors disliked him so much they tried to get him out of his apartment,” attorney Amanda Henderson said, referring to Garfield.

“They didn’t like Wayne Garfield from the start. They called police on him several times,” Henderson added.

Henderson, who is representing Garfield with attorney Eleftheria Keans, was speaking to jurors during her opening statement in Garfield’s trial.

Garfield, 56, who at the time of his arrest lived at 514 Nashua St., which is the property in question, is charged with one felony count of criminal threatening with a deadly weapon, and one count of disorderly conduct.

The disorderly conduct charge was a Class A misdemeanor going into trial, but Judge Jacalyn Colburn granted part of a motion by the defense that lowers it to a violation-level offense.

Both sides rested their cases around 3 p.m. Wednesday, after which time Colburn dismissed jurors with instructions to return at 10 a.m. today, when the lawyers’ closing arguments are expected to take place.

Jury instructions will follow, after which members will begin their deliberations.

Assistant County Attorney Lisa Drescher, who is prosecuting the case, said the incident in which Garfield allegedly threatened to kill the handyman and took a swipe at him with a length of copper pipe was fueled by Garfield’s anger.

“The defendant was angry … he displayed that anger by threatening to kill (the handyman) and by (allegedly) shouting profanities,” Drescher said.

She said Garfield also shouted at police when they were taking him into custody, and he allegedly said something along the lines of, “Wait until I get out … I’ll do it again,” Drescher said.

According to the defense, the building managers – a couple who lives in one of two second-floor units in the building – became frustrated with Garfield when he shut off the water to the entire building.

But he did so as a last resort, Henderson said, because, according to Garfield, wastewater from the apartments above sometimes backed up and flooded part of his basement apartment, the result of an ongoing plumbing problem.

Things came to a head on July 5, according to testimony by the handyman.

He said both he and Garfield were outside of the building when Garfield allegedly began shouting at him and challenging him. About 10 minutes later, he testified, he was standing with another tenant across the street, when he saw Garfield allegedly heading toward him carrying a black bag.

Something was sticking out of the bag, the handyman testified, and from a distance, it looked to him like a crow bar or a tire iron because, he said, it was curved at the end.

The item, which Drescher displayed in court, turned out to be a roughly two-foot length of copper pipe with “elbows” affixed to both ends.

“Did he hit you?” Drescher asked. “No,” the handyman answered, estimating he and Garfield were about 3 feet apart.

“He said, ‘I’m gonna kill you’ several times. He was really upset with me,” he added.

Police had been called, the handyman said, and were on the way when Garfield allegedly “took off … I saw him throw something into the bushes,” he said.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256, dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com or @Telegraph_DeanS.