Three men arrested in connection to a violent assault on two Boston University students early Sunday morning were arraigned on charges of assault and battery yesterday in Brighton District Court.
Juan Montesinos, 23, of Dorchester, and Sarik Chea, 20, of Lynn, were each charged with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Sophal Keo, 22, of Brighton, was charged with three counts of the same.
Cash bail was set at $1,500 for Keo and Chea and $2,500 for Montesinos. Keo and Montesinos were both released on bail, but Chea had not put up bail as of yesterday afternoon.
BU students Brian Hodges and Robert Kelly were the victims in the incident, according to court documents.
The fight began after ‘words were exchanged between the groups’ at about 12:17 a.m. on Sunday as Hodges, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, and Kelly, a School of Engineering sophomore, were walking with three friends past 38 Linden St. in Allston, according to Massachusetts attorney Terrance Reidy. A group of between 15 and 20 Asian and Hispanic men wearing dark and red clothing set upon the students, Reidy said.
One of the students sustained an ax wound to the back that required 16 stitches and received wounds to the ear and elbow. The other sustained an injury to his right eye after being struck with a bottle, according to Reidy.
The attackers are believed to have connections with a local group known as the ‘Young Bloods,’ Reidy said.
Christine Perkins, Chea’s lawyer, denied that Chea was involved in Sunday’s attack. There is no evidence Chea was involved, she said, citing a lack of any signs of struggle on his clothes or body.
‘If he was one of the young men who hit someone with the bottles, one would expect blood or injuries,’ she said.
Chea, however, has no marks, and ‘his clothes are as clean as the day they were purchased,’ Perkins said.
The judge struck down Reidy’s motion to raise the bail of two of the suspects and eliminate Montesinos’, despite Reidy’s contention that Montesinos is ‘a danger to the community.’
Reidy motioned to raise Keo’s bail, citing his record of disturbing the peace and assault and battery.
However, Paul Mishkin, Keo’s lawyer, opposed the increase. None of Keo’s offenses involved any serious violent conduct, he said, and Keo is not associated with the Young Bloods.
Keo’s and Montesinos’ release carries several conditions, as will Chea’s if he posts bail. The three men are under a 7 p.m. curfew and must stay away from the victims, people associated with the attack and Farrington and Harvard Avenues and Linden Street in the Allston-Brighton area. They also must report to probation, according to a judges’ order.
Perkins questioned the 7 p.m. curfew and the order to stay away from anyone who may have been involved in Sunday’s incident because, she said, Chea is not a minor and the allegations against him have not been proven.
‘Being cut off from all social life is unnecessary,’ Perkins said. ‘I don’t know if he’s friends or even best friends’ with people who may have been involved in the attack, she said.
A pretrial conference for the three men is set for 3 p.m. on Dec. 17.
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