An Aquinnah man was arraigned Friday in Dukes County superior court on charges of second-degree murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon stemming from a fatal stabbing in Vineyard Haven last summer.
Ovando S. Eghill surrendered to authorities after a warrant for his arrest was issued in wake of Thursday’s grand jury indictments, which move the case up from district court to superior court.
Closing a chapter in the landmark sovereignty case, the Wampanoag
Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) this week agreed to submit town permit
applications for the shed and pier it built on Menemsha Pond in 2001.
The announcement comes at a time of renewed cooperation and
communication between the town and tribe, and marks a significant moment
in the long-running case that has garnered widespread attention and
reached the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
The question of whether claims of sovereignty entitle the Wampanoag
Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) to skirt local and state laws will be
decided in Dukes County superior court, rather than a federal district
court in Boston where lawyers for the tribe wanted the case tried.