GREENFIELD, Mass. (AP) — An art professor at a prestigious women’s college in Massachusetts charged with using a rock, fire poker and garden shears to attack a colleague was ruled dangerous by a judge Wednesday and held without bail for four months.
Mount Holyoke College professor Rie Hachiyanagi has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges including armed assault with intent to murder in connection with an attack in the victim’s Leverett home in December.
Hachiyanagi, 48, had romantic feelings for the 60-year-old woman, prosecutors said.
She persuaded her colleague to let her into the home under the guise of needing to talk during a difficult time in her life, prosecutors said.
In holding her without bail, the Franklin Superior Court judge rejected the defense’s argument that there were discrepancies in the victim’s statements to police.
Defense attorney Thomas Kokonowski said his client “denies the violent behavior on that date.”
He said the prosecution’s theory of romantic interest in the alleged victim does not make sense.
Hachiyanagi, who has worked at Mount Holyoke since 2004, has been placed on administrative leave by the school and ordered to stay off the South Hadley campus.
(Copyright (c) 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)