Student Charged With Assault

Police arrested a 20-year-old sophomore in Pforzheimer House last Saturday for an alleged domestic assault involving a female undergraduate.

David T. Maybury-Lewis ’07 will face a court date in April, although according to court records, the complainant in the matter is Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) Detective Kevin Healy—not the victim. In matters of domestic assault where the victim does not press charges, the state itself may go forward with the charges and prosecute if there is sufficient evidence to do so. A state attorney for the prosecution has already been appointed in this case.

According to a HUPD report, the victim told police that on Feb. 21, Maybury-Lewis threw the remnants of a drink in her face and, in an attempt to shove her, struck her on the left side of her face and shoulder.

According to this report, which is publicly available at the Middlesex District Court, Maybury-Lewis and the victim of the assault “have been in a dating relationship for a couple of years and have had problems in the recent past.”

After repeated requests, both the victim and Maybury-Lewis declined to comment yesterday.

If found guilty of assault and battery, the defendant faces a sentence of no more than two-and-a-half years at the House of Corrections and a fine of no more than $100, according to Melissa T. Sherman, deputy press secretary for the Middlesex District Attorney’s office.

According to the police report, at approximately 2:48 a.m. on the night of the incident, Pforzheimer Senior Tutor Matthew G. Peattie contacted HUPD after a floor tutor said he believed Maybury-Lewis and the victim had engaged in a domestic dispute in which physical violence might have been involved. Peattie declined to comment for this story.

According to the incident report, an HUPD officer attempted to locate Maybury-Lewis in his room, but nobody came to the door. Peattie proceeded to unlock Maybury-Lewis’ door with a master key, where police found Maybury-Lewis asleep in bed.

After the defendant was awakened, police observed minor scratches on both of the defendant’s lower arms, according to the incident report.

Maybury-Lewis at first refused to explain the scratches—which the incident report notes “appeared to be scratches made by finger nails”—and later stated he had fallen down some stairs, according to the report.

The victim, described by a responding officer as “evasive,” told police that night that she and the defendant had been arguing and that “‘nothing had really happened,’” the report says.

Later that night, the victim told the police that the two of them had been drinking alcohol earlier, and that she “accidentally hurt” the defendant.

The police report states that the victim said Maybury-Lewis “became mad, starting calling her a bitch and yelling at her.” After allegedly tearing down pictures from her bedroom walls and knocking items off her dresser, Maybury-Lewis threw a part of a drink in her face, according to the report. The victim told police that in an attempt to “stop him from tearing apart her room,” she grabbed his arms to stop him, and that the scratches on his arms were probably due to her long finger nails.

The police report says Maybury-Lewis attempted to shove the victim away from him and in the process, due to his advantage in height, struck her in the face and on the shoulder. The height difference between the two is over a foot, according to court records.

The reporting officer notes in the incident report that he “did not observe any bruises on [the victim’s] face.”

Maybury-Lewis was placed under arrest by HUPD that night and transported to Cambridge Police Department headquarters on Western Avenue for holding. He was released on his own recognizance the next morning for $40 bail. According to court reports, he was released on the condition that he not commit another crime during his release, that he not abuse the alleged victim, and that he abide by all active restraining orders.

According to the Middlesex District Court clerk’s office, Maybury-Lewis does not have a restraining order against him.

The defendant was arraigned in court on Feb. 22, the morning after the arrest, and is due back in court on April 20 for a pretrial conference.

—Staff writer Robin M. Peguero can be reached at peguero@fas.harvard.edu.