Dukes County Superior Court is set to convene its fall session on Oct. 7, with three pending criminal matters and a civil case brought by neighbors of the Harbor View Hotel on the docket.

The Hon. David Ricciardone will preside, with cases scheduled from Oct. 7 until Oct. 23. There are no criminal trials on the docket, and almost all the scheduled civil trials have settled outside of court, superior court clerk T. George Davis said.

When the session opens next Monday, a 23-person grand jury will convene that could issue new indictments. Unlike a trial jury, grand juries determine whether charges should be brought against defendants rather than render a verdict at the criminal trial itself.

On Oct. 7, Sebastian M. Pattavina, 53, of Edgartown is scheduled to be arraigned on eight counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 and one count of rape. Mr. Pattavina was indicted on all nine charges on August 28. The case stems from alleged incidents that took place between 2014 and 2018, according court documents. The rape charge is from 2014.

Mr. Pattavina worked as a massage therapist at The Mod Spa near the Edgartown Triangle during the time the alleged assaults were committed.

According to a statement of facts filed in court by the Edgartown police, he is charged with non-consensual touching of female massage patients, and other forms of assault.

Also scheduled for arraignment is Richard J. Shepard, 72, of Vineyard Haven on 2018 charges in Vineyard Haven of fiduciary embezzlement and larceny over $1,200. Mr. Shepard is charged with either diverting or stealing over $170,000 from his sister, Julia Blackman, who resides in an Island elderly housing facility.

According to a police report filed in court, Ms. Blackman suffered an accident in 2014 that resulted in a settlement payout of approximately $244,000.

The report says Mr. Shepard was listed as Ms. Blackman’s fiduciary conservator for the funds, and responsible for depositing approximately $170,000 into a separate account for food, medical needs and housing for Ms. Blackman. The police report states that Mr. Shepard failed to deposit the money and that no accounting of the trust was done for three years.

Both arraignments are scheduled for Monday in the Edgartown courthouse.

In civil matters, a group of Edgartown abutters to the Harbor View Hotel are appealing decisions by the zoning board of appeals and town building inspector Lenny Jason to allow the construction and operation of a “pool bar” in back of the hotel. Although the appeals were filed separately, they have since been merged into one case.

The case was brought in July. In the complaint, a group of seven abutters, including direct abutter Lynn Allegaert, argue that they were not properly notified of the special permit application and public hearing process, claiming that the new bar carries more sound and is more visible from the public roadway. Counsel for the abutters have described the pool area as a “shocking commercial blight” and a “tiki bar,” according to documents filed in court.

A special permit to relocate and replace the hotel’s former pool bar was granted in May of 2019 by the zoning board of appeals, according to a memorandum of opposition filed in court by attorneys for the hotel.

Multiple hearings were held on the case in July, with many of the abutters appearing in court.

On July 25, Judge Riccardione denied the abutter’s request for injunctive relief, arguing that the abutters did not adequately refute that notices for the public hearing on the pool bar changes were published properly. The abutters are now looking to amend their complaint, while the Harbor View has filed a motion requesting to dismiss the case.

Also on the docket is a pretrial conference for a personnel matter regarding the Tisbury police department. Former administrative secretary Patricia Mark has filed a lawsuit against the town of Tisbury, alleging that former police chief Daniel Hanavan reprimanded her for a workplace infraction after she notified the town’s human resources department of “illegal acts” she believed the chief committed.

The case dates to 2017, and has been amended multiple times in the interim. The pretrial conference is tentaviely scheduled for Oct. 10.

Other civil matters include a lawsuit from the Murphy family against John Zarba, listing the Oak Bluffs zoning board of appeals as defendants. Also on the docket is a motion hearing for the long-running case involving Airport Fuel Services and the Martha’s Vineyard Airport Commission.