By TIMES STAFF

LINCOLN — A Providence County grand jury has declined to indict former Planning Board member Robert R. Picerno on charges of hiring two men in 2001 to beat up a political rival on the Town Council, the attorney general's office said.

State Police arrested Picerno in June on charges of threatening a public official and conspiracy in the beating of former Town Councilman Dean L. Lees Jr.  But grand jurors who heard evidence in the case decided there were insufficient grounds to move forward with the charges, said Michael Healey, spokesman for Atty. Gen. Patrick C. Lynch.
Lees issued a statement thanking the attorney general and the State Police for their efforts in attempting to bring Picerno to justice.
“I'd like to thank (Rhode Island law enforcement) for being dedicated and professional,” Lees said. “Since they began working on this case seven years ago, they have arrested, prosecuted and convicted the two men who carried out the attack. I appreciated their hard work and due diligence.
“Even though this grand jury didn't return a broader indictment, it does not take away from what had actually occurred,” Lees said.
Lees was attacked by two men in the parking lot of a carpet store on Branch Avenue in Providence on Jan. 4, 2001.
Scott P. Coutu and Robert Rinn pleaded no contest in 2001 on charges of participating in the assault, but they never said who put them up to it.
Coutu was sentenced to three and a half years after pleading no contest to two counts of abetting a felony and other unrelated charges. Rinn pleaded no contest to simple assault and threatening a public official and was sentenced to three years.
Picerno pleaded no contest to several counts of soliciting bribes and conspiracy as a member of the Planning Board between 2000 and 2002, but State Police had been unable to tie him to the attack on Lees.
Picerno's son, Robert R. Picerno II, had run against Lees in a Democratic primary for Town Council in 1998 and the two had become political enemies. Picerno was a member of the Planning Board the following year when Lees accused him of a breach of ethics for lobbying on behalf of a housing development in Lime Rock. Picerno responded with a slander suit against Lees that was later dismissed.
During the attack, Lees claimed he had been struck repeatedly in the back of the head by two men, one of whom warned him “we'll be back” if he kept doing what he was doing.
Though personally disappointed by the failure of the grand jury to return an indictment, Lees said he and his family have moved on with their lives.