A 44-year-old East Falmouth man is facing attempted murder and mayhem charges after police say he attacked another man with a baseball bat and a box cutter early Monday morning near Jenkins Pond, leaving the victim with serious injuries. The Falmouth Police Department says it received multiple 911 calls around 3:06 a.m. reporting an assault involving multiple weapons at a residence in the Jenkins Pond area of East Falmouth.
Officers arrived to find an adult male suffering from serious injuries, according to a statement from the Falmouth Police Department. Falmouth Fire and Rescue treated the victim at the scene before transporting him to an area hospital, where he is reported to be in stable condition. The initial 911 calls came in from a home on Pinecrest Beach Drive, according to CapeCod.com, which reported that first responders treated the victim as a trauma alert due to the severity of his head injury.
Bat, Box Cutter, and a Bow and Arrow
According to the department's account, the victim was struck with a baseball bat and cut with a box cutter during the attack. The suspect also allegedly threatened the victim with a bow and arrow, per the police statement. Falmouth Police detectives investigated the assault with assistance from the Barnstable County Sheriff's Office Bureau of Criminal Investigation, a regional forensic unit that has assisted Cape Cod police departments with crime scene work since 1935.
The 44-year-old suspect was arrested and charged with attempted murder, mayhem, assault and battery, and two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He was arraigned Monday at Falmouth District Court, where a judge ordered him held. Falmouth District Court, located at 161 Jones Road, handles initial criminal proceedings for Falmouth, Bourne, and Mashpee.
Why Police Withheld the Suspect's Name
Falmouth Police withheld additional identifying information about the suspect, stating that Massachusetts law requires it. State statutes under Chapter 41, Section 97D and Chapter 209A require police departments to keep reports of domestic abuse or assault among family or household members confidential, shielding identifying details about victims and suspects from public release. The department's silence on the man's identity suggests the case may involve a domestic or household relationship between the two men, though that has not been officially confirmed.
The charges carry significant statutory exposure. Mayhem, under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265, Section 14, is punishable by up to 20 years in state prison or up to two and a half years in a house of correction, along with a fine of up to $1,000. Assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, covering both the bat and the box cutter under Chapter 265, Section 15A, carries a potential 10-year state prison sentence. Because district courts are statutorily limited to imposing a maximum of two and a half years in a house of correction, any prison term beyond that will require prosecutors to seek a grand jury indictment and move the case to Barnstable Superior Court.
A Street With a Violent History
Jenkins Pond is a spring-fed freshwater lake in East Falmouth ringed by residential streets, including Pinecrest Beach Drive and Lake Shore Drive, an area made up largely of single-family homes and private neighborhood beach communities. It is not the first time violence with a baseball bat has struck that particular street: in June 2011, Falmouth police responded to a home invasion on Pinecrest Beach Drive in which occupants were assaulted with a wooden bat and suffered serious head injuries.
The case adds to a string of severe violent felony prosecutions tied to Falmouth in recent months. Hoodline previously reported on gun-grab charges against a 19-year-old Falmouth resident accused of trying to disarm a police officer during a struggle in Seekonk earlier this month, and in January a Lynn man was sentenced to 18 to 20 years for manslaughter in a multi-weapon stabbing investigated by Falmouth police. As with those cases, the charges against the 44-year-old suspect remain allegations at this stage of the proceedings.
