Edgartown’s shellfish constable, Paul Bagnall came before Edgartown District Court Judge Benjamin Barnes remotely Friday morning for a pretrial conference on a charge of property defacement.
Bagnall is accused of using a town vehicle to tear up a lawn. Bagnall’s attorney, Martin (“Skip”) Tomassian, told the court he “just came into possession of some exculpatory evidence” in the case. He did not articulate what the evidence was. Bagnall pleaded not guilty to the defacement charge at his Dec. 31 arraignment. This followed a Dec. 9 probable cause finding at a clerk magistrate’s hearing. According to a police report and court records, Bagnall allegedly ruined portions of his neighbor’s lawn with a town-owned pickup truck. The event was allegedly caught on camera. Bagnall also allegedly admitted committing the act to an Edgartown Police detective. Tomassian told the court he planned to share the exculpatory evidence with the prosecution, and work toward either a resolution or a trial date. Bagnall is expected back in court on May 6.
In other court business, Felix Reagan came before Judge Barnes remotely for a pretrial conference. Reagan remains held at the Dukes County Jail following a Jan. 8 dangerousness hearing where he was ordered held for up to 120 days. That hearing stemmed from charges of kidnapping, breaking and entering at night, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (butcher knife). Reagan previously pleaded not guilty to those charges, plus a charge of possession of a Class B drug. Not long after the alleged kidnapping, Reagan was flushed out of a house with chemical irritant rounds and arrested, according to a police report. Prior to that, during a standoff with the Vineyard’s tactical team, Reagan allegedly taunted police and made references to “suicide by cop,” according to the report.
Reagan’s attorney, Robert Nolan, told the court he and the prosecution are in discussion about a “global resolution” to Reagan’s charges.
Reagan is expected back in court on April 2. Judge Barnes said he hopes to see a proposal for a resolution by then.
The judicial process can be very frustrating to someone with common sense. So Mr. Bagnal admitted to doing what he did but now there’s some loophole where he didn’t do what he admitted to doing. Anything to do with the court system seems to be frustrating for all and nobody ever really wins except the lawyers.
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