BALLSTON SPA — More than two years after former Rep. John Sweeney’s son and another man were sentenced for assault, the victim in the case is preparing to ask a judge for a cash judgment against his assailants.

Matthew Brady filed a civil suit against John J. Sweeney and John Manupella, who pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in November 2005 for their role in a street fight in August 2004 in which Brady was injured.

A third man, Eadmonn Greeran, was arrested with Sweeney and Manupella but charges against him were later dropped. But Greeran has also been named a defendant in the civil suit by Brady.

Fulton County Judge Richard Giardino has been assigned to the civil case. He’s the same judge who presided over the criminal case and was criticized for not imposing jail time on Sweeney and Manupella.

David Bookstaver of the state Office of Court Administration said having the same judge hear both the criminal and civil matters would be unheard of in New York City, but upstate it can be a common occurrence.

“Upstate you have multi-hat judges, so it can happen that the same judge hears the two cases,” Bookstaver said. “You have a case where one judge in Saratoga County recused himself, so you don’t go back to Saratoga County where conflicts can exist.”

In Saratoga County, District Attorney James A. Murphy III and County Court Judge Jerry Scarano both recused themselves from the Sweeney case.

The elder Sweeney was an elected Republican congressman at the time whose district included Saratoga County.

The county also has three elected state Supreme Court judges who usually hear civil cases. They are part of the 4th Judicial District that extends from the Capital Region north to the Canadian border, taking in 11 counties, including Schenectady, Saratoga, Montgomery and Fulton counties.

At the sentencing for the younger Sweeney and Manupella, Giardino reversed his previous decision to give the pair four months of weekends or 45 consecutive days in jail plus probation and community service.

He said he had weighed a number of factors and changed the sentence to a suspended sentence of six months in jail.

He also sentenced Manupella and Sweeney to 240 hours of community service each, five years of probation and responsibility to pay medical costs for Brady.

After the sentencing, Brady said he believed the two were released without going to jail because Sweeney’s father was a congressman.

Sweeney later lost a re-election bid.

The younger Sweeney and Manupella were 19 at the time of the sentencing and the judge granted them youthful offender status, sealing the court records.

Last week, Giardino ordered Murphy to turn over grand jury minutes to Brady’s attorney for the civil trial.

Murphy said the records are held by Montgomery County District Attorney James “Jed” Conboy, who was the special prosecutor in the criminal case.

In 2004, Murphy’s office turned the case over to Conboy to avoid an appearance of a conflict of interest because an assistant district attorney in Saratoga County had a daughter who worked for Sweeney.

Murphy said Giardino’s order for grand jury minutes has been forwarded to Conboy.

According to testimony from those involved, shortly before midnight on Aug. 19, 2004, Brady, of Stillwater, and five or six of his friends met Sweeney, Manupella and a dozen or more of their friends for a street fight in Stillwater.

The cause of the brawl was a fight between Sweeney and Brady the previous night over a woman, according to court testimony.

At the end of the second fight, Brady was taken to a hospital in critical condition with broken and missing teeth and severe injuries to his eye and eye socket.

Brady testified he was kicked as he lay on the ground and he was “left for dead in the street” by the people who had injured him.

Sweeney and Manupella were the only participants to go to trial in the case.

At the sentencing, Brady said, “I can’t sleep at night. I can’t see straight when I look up. I’m missing a tooth and I’m going to have to have three other teeth sanded down and a bridge put in,” he said. “It isn’t right that they don’t have to go to jail.”

Attorney Terence Kindlon, who is representing Brady in the civil case against the other three men, said after the sentencing that he agreed with his client and believes political influence played into Giardino’s decision not to impose definite jail time.

“Anyone who believes there’s equal justice for everybody must have recently moved to this country,” said Kindlon. “This is a good example of what happens when you have money and power.”

The case was to have been heard this week in Saratoga County but has been postponed as both sides continue to prepare for court, according to a letter signed by Giardino.