A criminal trial began this week in Dukes County superior court for a Vineyard Haven man facing rape charges. A jury of 12 women and three men is hearing the case.

A superior court judge heard arguments on both sides in a legal dispute over a decision by the Martha’s Vineyard airport commission to not renew a lease for the Airport Mobil station.

The spring sitting of the Dukes County superior court begins next week, with a criminal trial for a Vineyard Haven man charged with rape on the docket.

An Oak Bluffs man has been sentenced to five years in state prison on charges including drug trafficking.

The state Supreme Judicial Court has reversed a Dukes County superior court judge’s decision to throw out an indictment against a Vineyard Haven man. The case returns to court for trial this fall.

The spring sitting of Dukes County superior court opens this week with a mix of cases, including one civil case that pits an Edgartown property owner against the town historic district commission.

The fall sitting of Dukes County superior court is scheduled to begin Monday.

The Vanderhoop fishing shack in Menemsha has been the subject of an emotional year-long debate in Aquinnah. The case involves a tangle of small town relationships as well as laws pertaining to property rights and contracts.

The fall sitting of the Dukes County superior court begins next Monday at the Edgartown courthouse.

The Hon. Cornelius J. Moriarty 2nd, an associate justice of the superior court, will preside over the session. A new grand jury convenes on Monday.

Several civil trials are on the schedule. The schedule is light on criminal matters, with jury trials scheduled for the end of the month for Darryl B. Baptiste and Patrece L. Petersen.

A six-year-old public-private project that was aimed at creating affordable housing and an expanded area of conservation land in Chilmark has landed in Dukes County superior court. The project dates to 2007 and involves the town, the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank and the Howard B. Hillman family.