Officers and Inmate Are to Be Arraigned Today

Two officers employed by the Dukes County House of Correction and an
inmate serving a sentence at the Edgartown jail will be arraigned on
conspiracy charges today in Dukes County superior court.

The Hon. Richard Chin, an associate justice of the superior court,
will preside over the session, which begins at 9 a.m.

Correctional officers Michael Trance, 26, of Edgartown and Teejay
Roginski, 25, of Tisbury will be arraigned on charges of conspiracy to
commit assault and battery in connection with an inmate-on-inmate attack
that took place at the jail last June.

Jason Labbe, 24, of New Bedford, will be arraigned on charges of
conspiracy to commit assault and battery, assault and battery with a
dangerous weapon and assault and battery in connection with the same
incident, in which he allegedly attacked then-inmate Paul Garcia, 54, of
West Tisbury.

Mr. Labbe also will be arraigned on a second count of assault and
battery in connection with a separate attack that occurred in September,
in which he allegedly attacked then-inmate Alan Thistle, 52, of South
Boston.

"Periodically between sessions if we have a lot of cases that
need to be addressed, a judge will come in to hear them,"
assistant Cape and Islands district attorney Lisa Edmonds said
yesterday.

Ms. Edmonds said a number of other arraignments will be on the court
docket.

A Dukes County grand jury indicted the three men in May after three
days of witness testimony and deliberation. Afterward both Mr. Trance
and Mr. Roginski were immediately suspended without pay by Dukes County
sheriff Michael McCormack.