NORTHAMPTON — A city resident has been jailed without the right to bail after being charged with several felony counts, including attempted murder, while on probation for other offenses.
Principe Matrille, 30, is accused of assaulting his girlfriend in March, trying to strangle her several times and making threats to kill her. Besides attempted murder, he is charged with three counts of strangulation or suffocation, three counts of intimidating a witness, assault and battery on a household member, larceny and malicious destruction of property.
He was indicted by a grand jury in May and was arraigned June 21 in Hampshire Superior Court.
Assistant District Attorney Erin Aiello petitioned the court at that time to order Matrille held until trial as a dangerous and habitual offender.
Judge John Agostini agreed to the commonwealth’s request, finding “that there are presently no conditions of release that will reasonably assure the safety of the victim and the community.”
“What is clear is that the defendant has an impressive criminal record with lengthy periods of incarceration,” Agostini wrote. “He was on superior court probation at the time of this incident. His records also reflect a propensity for violence, both in and outside of prison.”
Matrille, through his attorney, Thomas Glynn, has filed a motion to dismiss five counts of the indictment, including the attempted murder charge and the three counts of witness intimidation.
A hearing on those arguments is scheduled for Nov. 20.
James Pentland can be reached at jpentland@gazettenet.com.