by Nicholas J. Pinto-Wong, Contributing Editor

Two Somerville men pleaded not guilty July 2 at the Somerville District Courthouse to charges of assault and battery and armed assault with intent to murder after a fight the prior evening that left two youths wounded and Ryan Sullivan, 16, dead from stab wounds.

Joseph Spinucci, 25, and Van Louis Gustave, 24, at the request of their lawyers, listened to the charges from a stairwell concealed from the gallery to prevent their identification.

The conflict began when Gustave and Spinucci were walking with two women down Cedar Street at approximately 11 p.m. At the corner of Warwick Street, the four encountered William Tighe, 19, who exchanged words with one of the women, said Christopher Walsh, a Middlesex county assistant district attorney.

Tighe had been released from prison that same day, after serving a year-long sentence for attempted unarmed robbery, assault and battery, and a civil rights violation, according to court records. The charges, to which Tighe pleaded guilty, stemmed from a Sept. 13, 2003, incident in Kenny Park. Tighe attempted to rob a teenage lesbian couple, then spit in their faces and beat them while calling them derogatory names.

As Tighe’s exchange with the woman escalated, she struck at him, and Spinucci and Gustave attacked him with knives, Walsh said. Around the same time, Sullivan and Jules Stevens, 17, students at Somerville High School, arrived on the scene and became involved in the conflict.

Tighe’s father, who lives on Warwick Street, heard the commotion and came out onto the street, where he saw Spinucci standing over Sullivan and striking him while Gustave did the same to Stevens, Walsh said. Tighe’s father pushed the two away, and they fled.

When police arrived on the scene they found Sullivan and Stevens suffering from stab wounds. The two were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where Sullivan died of his wounds. Stevens remains there in critical condition, Walsh said. Tighe was admitted to Somerville Hospital for stab wounds in his back, but was discharged shortly thereafter.

Eyewitnesses to the incident identified Spinucci and Gustave, Walsh said, and both men had been seen with knives earlier in the day. When police arrested them, the men had wounds on their hands consistent with slipping down the blade of a knife as it is thrust.

Prosecutors are still deciding whether to bring the additional charge of murder against one or both defendants, Walsh said.

The district attorney’s office is asking that the defendants be denied bail. Gustave has an outstanding warrant for assault and battery in Dorchester, and Spinucci has a minor criminal record as well, Walsh said.

The presiding judge, Maurice R. Flynn III, set a hearing for July 7 at 9 a.m. at the Somerville District Courthouse to determine whether the defendants will be held without bail.

After the arraignment, Sullivan’s uncle, Brian Sullivan, read a short statement to the assembled press, asking for their restraint with the Sullivan family in their time of crisis.

Outside the courthouse, Capt. Daniel R. Matthews, chief of detectives for the Somerville Police, said the stabbings were not gang-related.

“This was just a few neighborhood youths,” he said.

Matthews said it was possible that Sullivan, whom he identified as a friend of Tighe’s, had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone met with police and city officials the morning of the arraignment to discuss a response to the previous night’s events, said Mark Horan, communications director for the mayor.

“There was some concern from the police about preventing any kind of retaliation,” Horan said. “We’re not dealing with gangs here, but groups of associated youths.”