A Hopkinton man was indicted by a grand jury this week for attempted murder and other charges relating to an incident that occurred in June at Sandy Beach, according to court records.
A search of Massachusetts court dockets revealed that indictments were returned this week in the case of Steven Dana. The 70-year-old was arrested in June at Sandy Beach after he engaged in a physical altercation with a Milford man. Dana allegedly strangled 21-year-old Matthew Duffy and held him under the water before being pulled off by another individual.
The incident occurred over a dispute regarding Duffy and his friends using Lake Maspenock when they were not Hopkinton residents. After an exchange of words, Duffy allegedly made a profane insult targeting the older man, at which point Dana responded by slapping the 21-year-old. The subsequent fight ended with both men in a shallow part of the lake and Duffy claiming Dana was holding him underwater.
Hopkinton Police at the time charged Dana with attempt to murder, strangulation/suffocation and assault and battery on a disabled person. He later was released by the court on $7,500 bail and ordered to have no contact with Duffy or the other witnesses.
Dana’s attorney, David Grimaldi, said at his client’s dangerousness hearing June 5 that he was “doubtful [this] case would be presented to a grand jury and be indicted.”
According to the Massachusetts Trial Court case portal, indictments were returned by the grand jury on Tuesday. It charged Dana with attempted murder and strangulation/suffocation, upholding two of the original felony charges brought by Hopkinton Police.
The third charge on the grand jury indictment is misdemeanor assault and battery — a downgrade of the felony assault and battery on a disabled person that the HPD filed in June. Police brought the charge because Duffy was walking with crutches at the time of the altercation due to injuries from a previous accident.
Dana appeared briefly in Framingham District Court on Tuesday for a probable cause hearing. It was rescheduled to Nov. 24 and changed to a case status review.
The case will move from Framingham District Court to Middlesex Superior Court now that an indictment has been returned, according to reporting from the MetroWest Daily News.
The Independent has reached out to the Middlesex Superior Court and the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office for additional information. [Update: The Middlesex DA’s Office confirmed on Friday that Dana had been indicted. The Middlesex Superior Court also on Friday supplied the Independent with the grand jury’s indictments.]
It was on video. What other violence is this “man” guilty of?
I watched this video multiple times Dana was twice Duffy’s Size Yes he held him under water in an attempt to drown him His “friends “ were very slow to respond