Malek Bosmond and Akieli Brown are charged in connection with Dec. 20 shooting that sent one man to the hospital with a wound to his leg.
BELCHERTOWN -- The case against two 24-year-old Amherst men charged in a shooting in Amherst last month has been continued to Feb. 23 after the prosecutor told the judge the case would be presented to a Hampshire Superior Court grand jury within two weeks.
Malek Bosmond is charged with assault and battery with a firearm, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, carrying a dangerous weapon and discharging a firearm within 50 feet of a building following a Dec. 20 shooting that sent one man to the hospital with a wound to his leg.
Co-defendant Akieli Brown faces a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (metal pipe) in connection with the alleged attack.
At a hearing last month, Bosmond's lawyer, attorney Alfred Chamberland, questioned whether his client was even at the Mill Valley complex at the time of the attack. The victim said the shooter was about 5-foo-4-inches tall -- but Bosmond is over 6-feet tall.
At Thursday's bind-over hearing, Chamberland reiterated that fact and asked that the charge of assault and battery with a firearm be dismissed.
He said that while his client was released from custody after a dangerousness hearing, and a GPS monitoring bracelet is preventing him from visiting his children in New York among other restrictions.
"There are very significant restrictions on his life," he said. He opposed the continuance and wanted the hearing held as planned Thursday.
Katherine Callaghan, Brown's lawyer, said her client was not charged with the shooting and asked that the charge against her client be dismissed as well.
Judge Patricia Poehler denied the motions to dismiss and told Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Matt Russo this would be the only continuance.
The victim, who was visiting his stepson at the apartment complex, told police he did not know either man.
Russo told the court last month that both men had visited the apartment before and hung out.
On Dec. 20, he said the two men had gone there to fight the victim's stepson, who was there visiting his girlfriend.
"Mr. Brown and Mr. Bosmond were looking for a fight," he said.