In a courtroom full of families of the men, defense lawyers Joe Smith, Johnathan R. Elliott, Marissa Elkins and Thomas F. Maguire argued there was no evidence connecting the men to a Marlborough Street alleged home invasion attempt April 18, 2013.
SPRINGFIELD – A Springfield District Court judge Monday ruled there are no conditions under which four city men can be released pending their trials that would protect the community from danger.
Judge Patricia T. Poehler made the ruling that the prosecution can hold Louis Pittman, 17; Kevan Cuffee, 24; Tyriesse Jackson, 21; and Mark Mayweather, 24, without right to bail for 90 days.
In a courtroom full of families of the men, defense lawyers Joe Smith, Johnathan R. Elliott, Marissa Elkins and Thomas F. Maguire argued there was no evidence connecting the men to a Marlborough Street alleged home invasion attempt April 18, 2013.
Assistant District Attorney Timothy Chretien said officers were called out to Marlborough Street for a report of a home invasion and shots fired. The resident said he watched on his closed circuit television as four or five men approached wearing masks and carrying guns.
A short time later police heard a gunshot and went to Northampton Street, where they found the four men in a sports utility vehicle, Chretien said.
Police - two of whom had their service weapons drawn - ordered the four men out and found three guns - a sawed-off shotgun, a 22-caliber gun and a Magnum handgun, he said.
Chretien said Cuffee has no record, but Jackson and Mayweather have adult records and Pittman has a juvenile record.
The four defense lawyers argued to Poehler that testimony at the hearing on dangerousness led them to believe there will be no home invasion charges left against their clients when the case goes to Hampden Superior Court. They said they expected only the gun charges - which their clients deny -will remain.
The four are charged with home invasion, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building, two counts of illegal possession of a firearm, one count of possession of a sawed-off shotgun, two counts of receiving stolen property, three counts of possession of a firearm without a firearms identification card, and a count each of possession of a loaded firearm, possessing a firearm in the commission or a felony and possession of marijuana.