Lynn pair charged in stabbing remain held

LYNN – Both defendants in a Friday morning stabbing remain held without bail Tuesday as a judge continued a dangerousness hearing for one suspect and revoked bail from a prior charge for the second.But the alleged victim also credited one of the defendants with saving his life, according to attorneys.Charla Mercaldi, 23, of 144 Broad St. #314, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder; assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a knife; malicious destruction of property valued more than $250; witness intimidation; and violation of a city knife ordinance; when arraigned in Lynn District Court Monday.Kimberly Delorto, 23, of 239 Judge Road, pleaded not guilty to assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; attempted murder; and assault and battery.Both were held overnight pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for Tuesday.Police responded to Johnson Street and Henry Avenue at approximately 10:30 a.m. Friday and found the alleged victim covered in blood and stabbed and slashed on his head and back.The alleged victim originally told police he thought the incident was a case of mistaken identity; the alleged victim said a man and a woman had pulled up beside him and started yelling, calling him by the wrong name. The man and woman then got out and a fight ensued during which he was stabbed. He said the man and woman drove away from the scene.Police found the suspect vehicle and stopped Mercaldi (who an officer said could be mistaken for a male based on her physical appearance) and Delorto shortly thereafter.Mercaldi told officers she stabbed the alleged victim in self-defense, turning the alleged victim’s knife on him after he attacked Delorto during an argument over money.Delorto told officers she was trying to break up a fight between Mercaldi and the alleged victim, and the former had the knife.Essex Assistant District Attorney Andrew Boyd summarized this account Tuesday in Lynn District Court.Boyd said the Commonwealth was dropping the request for a dangerousness hearing for Delorto but sought to revoke her bail on an open assault case. (Attorneys agreed to continue Mercaldi’s dangerousness hearing so the public defender’s office could prepare.)But Boyd added, and Delorto’s court-appointed defense attorney Joann Hnat concurred, that the alleged victim credited Delorto with saving his life.”He feels that if (Delorto) hadn’t been there, he might have died,” Hnat said. “She was able to push him out of the way and the knife hit him in the head and not the neck.”Hnat requested no more than $1,500 cash bail on the new matter and that the judge not revoke the bail on the open matter – which was described as a fight where Delorto and the other individual fell into and damaged a glass window at a laundromat.But Boyd had earlier said this account of Delorto’s actions seemed “a little incongruous” with other facts in the case.Boyd noted a female witness reported seeing a male victim fighting off two suspects. Boyd also questioned why Delorto would try to help the alleged victim and then get into a car with Mercaldi and flee the scene.He requested the bail be revoked.Judge Cathleen Campbell ordered Delorto held without bail for up to 60 days on prior charges and set $1,500 cash bail for the new case. Delorto is scheduled to return to court May 20.Mercaldi is scheduled to return to court April 22.