By Geena Monahan–For the North Star Reporter
Daniel Randall, a North Attleborough man originally sentenced to life in prison without parole for the stabbing death of two of his friends and assault on a third, was resentenced in court on May 30 by Judge Thomas Perrino.
Randall will now serve two consecutive terms of no less than 30 years to life, plus 18 to 20 years for the armed assault, with the possibility of parole after 60 years. Sentencing took place in the Bristol County Superior Courthouse.
According to Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn, Randall was originally convicted in 2023 of two counts of first-degree murder by deliberation and extreme atrocity and cruelty, along with a mayhem and armed assault intent to murder charge.
However, a May 2024 ruling in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Mattis case found life sentences without parole for emerging adults between the ages of 18 and 20 years old to be unconstitutional. Randall, who was 19 at the time of the offense, qualified for resentencing after the Mattis ruling went into effect.
“I am pleased that the court, after a thorough review of the record, sentenced the defendant to a total of 60 years before he will be eligible for parole,” said Quinn. “The 60-year sentence justly punishes the defendant for the two murders he committed and the near fatal stabbing of the third victim and should deter others in accordance with Mattis.”
Quinn, along with Assistant District Attorneys Patrick Driscoll and Nathan Kennedy, prosecuted the case two years ago.
According to a police report, on the night of Aug. 29, 2019, Randall and three of his friends, 21-year-old Aidan Hanrahan, 21-year-old Joshua Lemken and 21-year-old Erik Lundstedt, met at Randall’s house on Birch Road in North Attleborough to celebrate Hanrahan’s birthday.
Hanahan’s uncle arrived at the house at 8:30 p.m. to bring the group to a nearby casino, but instead found Lundstedt, who was the lone survivor, running out of Randall’s house covered in blood with stab wounds to his neck and stomach.
According to court documents, at 8:37 p.m. police received a call from Randall, who said, “I need help. I’m in North Attleborough near the Honey Dew. I killed someone.”
Hanrahan was found lying over the end of a bed with a stab wound to his neck and was pronounced dead at the scene. Lemken, who was discovered lying by the stairs with stab wounds to his abdomen, was later pronounced dead at Rhode Island Hospital.
Randall pleaded not guilty to the charges in his trial, claiming self-defense and accusing his three friends of trying to jump him over a bag of marijuana. However, police found no weapons on any of the victims the night of the stabbings.
“This is one of the most brutal and senseless cases that I have ever seen,” said Quinn. “Some of the most violent and brutal murders are committed by defendants under the age of 21 and these individuals pose a significant threat to our public safety.”
At resentencing last week, the court indicated that, “the defendant ultimately committed two separate, brutal homicides, and perhaps a third but for the knife slipping… As a result, the lives of two young men senselessly ended and a third’s permanently altered.”