REVERE YOUTH CHARGED IN FATAL BEATING March 31, 2008 A Revere man was arraigned last week on manslaughter charges following his indictment for an assault that led to the death of a 49-year-old Winthrop man, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced today. MATTHEW RILEY, 18 (D.O.B. 7/12/89), was charged with beating Robert Mackey with a golf club on the morning of Aug. 12, 2007 – contributing, prosecutors contend, to Mackey’s death one week later. Riley was also indicted for two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon – reflecting assaults on Mackey and a surviving victim during the same incident – and possession of a class D controlled substance in a school zone. Assistant District Attorney Mark Zanini recommended that Riley be held on $10,000 cash bail and be ordered to stay out of Winthrop and have no contact with any witnesses or members of the victim’s family; Suffolk Superior Court Clerk Magistrate Gary D. Wilson set bail at $5,000, adopted the suggested conditions of release, and further ordered that Riley be placed on a Global Positioning System tracking device if he posts bail. Evidence developed in the course of a seven-month grand jury investigation suggests that Riley and his brother were involved in a dispute with the victim and another man outside a Revere Street convenience store shortly after 2:30 a.m. As the surviving victim sat in his car, Matthew Riley allegedly struck him in the head with the handle of a golf club and then struck Mackey when Mackey exited the vehicle and became involved in a violent altercation with his brother. When Winthrop Police arrived, they recovered a quantity of marijuana in Riley’s car. Prosecutors allege that Matthew Riley repeatedly hit Mackey in the lower left back with the golf club, causing severe blunt trauma to the man’s left posterior ribcage. Riley was transported to an area hospital in the aftermath of the incident but left without receiving medical treatment. Mackey returned to the hospital several days later, not knowing that he had suffered a lacerated spleen. He underwent surgery but passed away a short time later. Riley was initially charged only with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. The manslaughter indictment was returned on March 3 after the grand jury considered Mackey’s death among the facts and circumstances of the incident. “We are committed to speaking for Mr. Mackey, and we intend to do so forcefully in court,” Conley said. “There can be no comfort for the loss his loved ones suffered, but we hope our efforts to hold this defendant accountable bring them some small sense of satisfaction.” Riley is represented by attorney Thomas Brant. He is expected to return to court in May. Return to the Press Releases page.