LYNN – A judge ordered $2,500 cash bail for an assistant football coach at Lynn Tech charged with assault to murder in connection with the stabbing of two teenagers — including one of the players the defendant coached — outside the vocational high school.
Joel Devaney, 20, of 69 Robinson St., was charged on a warrant for assault to murder, joint venture, two counts; and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a shod foot.
He is the second individual charged in connection with the Feb. 25 fight in which two teens were stabbed.
Azariah Ball, 21, of 3 River Street Place, was arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, two counts; at 5:13 p.m. on the day of the incident. He was held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing at his arraignment the following day, and police and witnesses allege that Ball actually stabbed the two victims. This Wednesday, Ball was additionally charged with assault to murder, two counts. He was ordered held on a total of $11,000 cash bail.
Devaney was arraigned today in Lynn District Court and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Police responded to Western Avenue and Franklin Street at approximately 4 p.m. Feb. 25 and found a witness inside a car and the two alleged victims – a 16-year-old male and a 17-year-old male – in an ambulance, according to a report by Lynn Police Officer Michael Economou.
The witness told police she got a call saying there was a fight involving Ball and her ex-boyfriend, Devaney; and her current boyfriend and his friend. (The latter two are the 16-year-old and 17-year-old alleged victims, respectively.)
Ball allegedly stabbed the two victims. But prosecutor Andrew Boyd stressed during the arraignment Friday, citing a Lynn Police report, that the girl told police Devaney threatened to pull a knife on her new boyfriend and his friends just before the fight. Devaney and Ball also allegedly walked away from the incident, laughing, and Devaney told the girl that “[he] got your boys.”Look for the complete story in Saturday’s edition of The Daily Item.