Updated July 15.
Numerous ongoing cases continued their hearings at the Dukes County Superior Court in Edgartown on Wednesday, June 8, including those involving a manslaughter suspect, alleged cocaine and fentanyl traffickers, a former select board candidate charged with rape, and individuals who allegedly were in possession of large-capacity firearms.
Among the cases last week was a superior court motion hearing for Macaleer Schilcher, 41, who has a final trial conference scheduled for Oct. 5. A jury trial was also scheduled for him on Oct. 26.
Schilcher was indicted by a grand jury in Dec. 2024 on four counts of rape. According to superior court documents, the motion sought cell phone location information from the alleged victim, which would reveal the location of the alleged victim throughout the alleged incident that occurred in 2019.
“If the cell site location information still exists — and I recognize, as does the defendant, that is a long shot — the records are potentially relevant and, depending on the alleged victim’s testimony, potentially exculpatory and useful for impeachment,” Superior Court Judge Peter B. Krupp wrote in court documents.
In July 2025, Schilcher violated one of the conditions of his release by sitting behind his victim in an empty courtroom. Schilcher’s attorney, Rob Moriarty, clarified that after a hearing in the Falmouth District Court, Schilcher was found not to be in violation of his conditions of release, and said at the time that it was a textbook case of incidental violation. Schilcher spent the night at the Dukes County Correctional Facility.
Schilcher ran for the Tisbury Select Board in 2023.
Another notable case heard in Edgartown last week was for Aimee Cotton, 42, who has both ongoing criminal and civil cases. She was charged with manslaughter for an incident in 2025 that allegedly resulted in the death of an infant in her care. At a status review hearing, Cotton’s criminal case attorney, Harrison T. Barrow, proposed a motion to change the venue of her criminal case to Barnstable Superior Court, which was approved by Judge Krupp. Both Barrow and Assistant District Attorney Courtney Scalice agreed the change would help get more frequent court dates.
Cotton’s civil attorney, Marielise Kelly, also submitted a motion on Wednesday that resulted in a pause of a civil case against Cotton. Kelly said continuing with discovery in the civil case brought against Cotton by Julie and Matthew Rodenbaugh, parents of Frankie Rodenbaugh, who allegedly died due to her negligence, would violate Cotton’s constitutional rights while her ongoing criminal case for manslaughter continued.
Many of the other cases that were processed last Wednesday were status reviews or motion hearings with limited action taken.
A status review was held for the case against the Viera family.
In August of 2025, Travis J. Viera, 26, was arrested by the Oak Bluffs Police as he entered Oak Bluffs from the Steamship Authority ferry. According to police, officers allegedly recovered a kilogram of cocaine, estimated to be worth around $100,000, after searching him and his motorcycle.
According to police reports, investigators learned of a joint effort among members of the Viera family to recover a backpack containing cocaine by monitoring phone calls made to Viera by his family as he was in custody. Although police didn’t recover the cocaine bag after searching vehicles and executing search warrants at the suspect’s homes, Viera’s family, including Nicholas C. Viera, 36, David M. Viera, 57, and Jessica Donahue, 34, were indicted by a grand jury in November of 2025 for conspiracy to violate drug laws, acting as accessories after the fact, and committing interference with a police officer. All three pleaded not guilty at a superior court hearing on Feb. 18 and are currently released on personal recognizance. Travis Viera, however, remains in the Dukes County Correctional Facility.
Travis Viera was scheduled for a change of plea hearing Oct. 5 during his status review hearing last week. A trial assignment conference, where they will assign a trial day, and motion hearing are scheduled on Oct. 9 for alleged accessories to Travis: Nicholas, David, and Jessica.
Jordan Dwayne Creech, 30, and Christine Anthony Kurth, 60, were also brought before the superior court for trafficking over 100 grams of what was believed by officers to be pressed fentanyl.
According to district court documents, Martha’s Vineyard Drug Task Force detectives witnessed Kurth parked in front of the Steamship Authority on Water Street in Vineyard Haven. Creech was seen getting into the front passenger seat of Kurth’s vehicle, court documents stated.
According to the report, Kurth let Creech out after driving around the parking lot. Detectives who believed they had just witnessed a drug transaction conducted a traffic stop on Kurth, and recovered several blue pills, which officers said in the report they believed to be pressed fentanyl.
The pills were weighed in excess of 100 grams. Kurth was arrested, and Creech was arrested on the ferry before it left. Officers believe Creech delivered the drugs to Kurth, according to court documents. Creech and Kurth had status reviews at the courthouse on Wednesday last week and have motion hearings scheduled for Aug. 4 for at the Dukes County Superior Court in Edgartown. Kurth also has a jury trial scheduled for Oct. 13. Creech and Kurth were indicted in Dec. 2023.
Kamel Timmons, 19, and Kamari Clements, 22, who are facing firearm and drug-related charges after an illegal tattoo parlor in Chilmark was investigated by police in Feb. 2025, were also brought before the Superior Court on Wednesday.
Chilmark Police obtained warrants to search the property in Chilmark, where they seized illegal tattoo supplies, a digital scale, a small amount of marijuana, pepper spray, and a black GSG 522 .22LR caliber rifle, with the butt stock removed so it fit inside a backpack, according to court documents.
Police charged Clements with possession of a firearm without a firearm identification card, although he denied to police that he owned the gun.
A search warrant was conducted at Timmons’ residence as well, where officers discovered multiple items indicating drug distribution, such as plastic bags, a digital scale, over $3,400 in cash, and a white powdery substance in a clear white bag, according to a police report. He faces charges for the possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and possession of firearms without a firearm identification card.
Clements has motion hearings scheduled at the Edgartown Courthouse on Oct. 9, and Timmons has a motion hearing and trial assignment conference scheduled for the same day.
Editor’s note: Updated to include a clarification from Macaleer Schilcher’s attorney.
