SALEM – A Lynn man charged with brutally punching and kicking a man last spring in a South Street Terrace home, causing fractures to his ribs, eye sockets and larynx, will need $2,500 in cash in order to get out of the Middleton Jail pending his trial.Donald Keets, 29, of 26 Endicott St., Lynn, appeared Wednesday morning in Salem Superior Court for his arraignment, pleading innocent to assault and battery causing serious bodily injury and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, shod foot, before Judge John T. Lu.As jointly recommended by the prosecutor and defense, Lu agreed to set the same bail amount as was previously set in Lynn District Court, but the defense may petition for a bail review at another court hearing.Assistant District Attorney Michael P. Hickey said the charges arise from an incident on March 26 when a 48-year-old Lynn man told authorities he was asleep in his home on South Street Terrace and was awoken by the suspect punching and kicking him.The victim sustained broken ribs, eye sockets and a fractured larynx as a result of the attack and spent a week in Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.The two men were apparently associates, but no motive is known for the attack. Keets reportedly was dating the victim’s daughter at the time.A conviction on the assault and battery causing serious bodily injury carries up 10 years in state prison and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon also carries up to 10 years punishment in a state prison.The case was continued to Sept. 15 for a pretrial conference.
