A Bourne man has been sentenced to five years in county jail after pleading guilty to charges of assault to murder after an incident last year in West Tisbury.
Joseph J. Feliciano, 27, has already spent nearly a year in the Dukes County House of Corrections following an incident in May last year when he allegedly attacked his roommates with a knife. At Tuesday’s hearing, Feliciano pleaded guilty, after initially pleading not guilty last year.
According to a statement from Assistant District Attorney John Wheatley in the courthouse on Tuesday, the initial incident occurred when the owners of a house in West Tisbury that Feliciano had begun staying with discovered items of theirs missing. After finding their missing items in Feliciano’s backpack, they asked him to leave, Wheatley said. But while packing, he was discovered to be holding a kitchen knife, with which he then attacked the owners of the house, causing hand, arm, and head injuries. The two victims survived, but one suffered serious injury, requiring surgery on his eye and physical therapy.
Attorney Wheatley said, following the incident, Feliciano fled into the woods behind the house. Police reported at the time that he was having a mental breakdown.
Police also reported that Feliciano attacked and knocked down a nurse at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital after he was transported there following the incident.
In the court on Tuesday, the defense’s attorney Robb Moriarty said at the time of the incident, Feliciano had been off his prescribed medication.
“His actions were not the product of what was in his heart, it was the product of human frailty,” said Moriarty.
Feliciano’s charges included assault to murder, mayhem, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon inflicting serious bodily injury, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery on ambulance personnel.
Attorney Moriarty told the judge that Feliciano’s behavior since being incarcerated has been exemplary, citing a corrections officer stating they wished they had 20 more guys behaving similarly to Feliciano.
Feliciano was sentenced to two 2½ consecutive sentences, for a total of five years, and three years of probation starting when he gets out.
Craziness. A mere 5 years.
Feliciano’s charges included assault to murder, mayhem, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon inflicting serious bodily injury, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery on ambulance personnel. ”A product of human frailty and not what was in his heart”.
How much doe it cost to incarcerate?
$12,000 a year?
DOGE
Small point, but as a former longtime newspaper editor, it irks me when reporters refer to a house of corrections. The Times does it often. It is not a plural house. The correct reference is Dukes County House of Correction.