Norfolk County prosecutors dropped charges against two men accused of participating in a fight at a 2023 New England Patriots game that led to the death of a 53-year-old man.
John Vieira, 59, and Justin Mitchell, 39, of Warwick, R.I. were each charged with assault and battery and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors. The charges against both men were dropped on Friday after a motion hearing in Wrentham District Court, according to court records.
A spokesman for Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
The fight took place in the 300s tier at Gillette Stadium during a Patriots Dolphins game in September 2023 and left Dale Mooney, of New Hampshire, with fatal injuries.
Mooney needed medical attention when first responders found him at about 10:57 p.m. He was then brought to the Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro where he was pronounced dead.
His death was ruled a homicide, but Morrissey’s office declined to bring homicide charges against either man.
Days after the incident, the district attorney’s office said that an initial autopsy did not suggest that Mooney died from a traumatic injury, but did not identify a medical issue.
Morrissey wrote that a review of the evidence, including the autopsy results and multiple angles of video, did not support charges for homicide in Mooney’s death.
Lawyers for both Armstrong and Vieira did not immediately respond to a request for comment from MassLive.
A spectator told MassLive at the time he saw the physical altercation.
There was bickering back and forth throughout the game between one section of the crowd and another, and toward the end of the fourth quarter, he noticed Mooney in a physical altercation with other spectators, according to Joey Kilmartin, of Nashua, New Hampshire.
“The Dolphins fan walks over and clearly punches him in the face,” Kilmartin said. “(He) gets knocked out and you can tell right away he’s not OK.”
Mooney never got back up and EMTs arrived to perform CPR, according to Kilmartin, who later gave his account to Foxborough police.
“It’s an unfortunate situation,” he said. “I feel bad for the family.”