April 8, 2007
New LaGuer trial supportedFITCHBURG—
City Councilor Annie K. DeMartino said she does not know whether
Benjamin LaGuer is innocent of the brutal rape and beating of his
former 59-year-old neighbor in Leominster in 1983.
But she said she thinks LaGuer, 43 — who was sentenced to 15 years
to life in prison in January 1984 after a jury convicted him of
aggravated rape — should get a new trial to be sure justice has been
done. The victim was a woman she met as a mental health client and
became a close friend..............
In the interview Mrs. DeMartino gave to freelance journalist Eric Goldscheider, published last week in the Easthampton-based Valley Advocate, she describes a woman who suffered from paranoid delusions and who identified every black and Hispanic man she saw on the street before and after the trial as her assailant.
April 13, 2007
Charges dropped against suspects accused of having 200 lbs. of pot
WORCESTER -- Prosecutors Thursday dropped all charges against a father and son who police say stored 200 pounds of marijuana in an Ashburnham home.
District Attorney Joseph Early Jr.'s office made the move after the Supreme Judicial Court refused to reverse a superior court judge's decision to ban prosecutors from entering evidence about the seized drugs at trial.......
Former District Attorney John Conte's office nearly had the Booths plead guilty, but Conte pulled out at the last minute, Poirier said.
"It's unfortunate, this guy was a major player, he made a deal to plead guilty, and for some reason the DA's office didn't want to go with it," Poirier said. "They ended up losing the whole thing."
April 30, 2007
Former DA Conte to be “HONORED” BY Bishop McManus
Next Sunday at the annual BLUE MASS, former District Attorney John J. Conte will be honored.
According to the article in the Catholic Free Press, this honor was based on his thirty year tenure in office.
No doubt the Worcester Dioceses would seek out to display their appreciation for the former District Attorney. During John Conte’s thirty year tenure he failed to secure grand jury indictments, provided special treatment for accused Priest, and did not gain convictions in trials. Financially DA Conte supported the dioceses with donations from his political campaign fund. In addition during the height of the clergy abuse scandal in 2002 he communicated details concerning clergy abuse victims with the Monsignor Thomas Sullivan, Worcester Dioceses liaison to the District Attorney's office. .......
Just this past week the case of Rev. John J Szantyr who was arraigned on with four criminal charges of indecent A&B on a child under 14 in 2003, involving two male victims has again been continued for the 32nd time according to the court docket.
May 4, 2007
Special treatment for Special Friends
Fitchburg Police Officer receives Speedy trial
In an extraordinary time frame the case of Fitchburg Police Officer, Perry Pappas, who was arrested March 10, 2007 by state trooper Michael Caranfa for drunk driving has had his trial date before most Worcester County residence even receive a pre-trial conference.
Amazingly, not only did we have the “speediest” trial in Worcester County, but a Special Prosecutor John Goggins, a Worcester lawyer, appointed by Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. lost the criminal case in one hour.
It appears Worcester DA Joseph Early Jr. is following the footsteps of John Conte. So once again we see the “Worcester Way” being exercised for favored friends.
Also notably missing was coverage of this “Speedy” trial in the Worcester telegram.
May 16, 2007
State trooper faces federal OxyContin charges
A Massachusetts State Police trooper, who spent much of his career targeting drug dealers, and a retired trooper were arrested today on federal charges for allegedly running an OxyContin trafficking ring and for extortion.
Mark Lemieux, of Norfolk, who joined the Metropolitan District Commission police in 1987 and became a trooper when that force was consolidated with the State Police in 1992, was arrested along with former state trooper Joseph Catanese, of Sandwich, and two other people, including Lemieux's girlfriend.
May 16, 2007
Big Dig Driving Not All On The Roads
An indoor driving range – at the Big Dig – has become the focus of
two investigations.
Our I-Team has learned
that either State Police or Big Dig workers set it up inside a
building near the site of last summer’s deadly tunnel collapse.
A short distance from where that ceiling collapsed in the Mass
Turnpike connector tunnel sits a Big Dig ventilation building.
Its official purpose: to vent exhaust from the Big Dig tunnels in
South Boston.
The unofficial purpose: Inside was an indoor golf driving range,
with a net at least one story high.
May 18, 2007
Massachusetts State Police are investigating whether a group of golf-loving troopers who apparently set up a driving range inside a Big Dig facility were on the clock while practicing their golf swings
Jon Carlisle, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, said that state police officials confirmed that a group of 12 to 14 troopers assigned to a motorcycle unit hung netting inside the third floor of a large ventilation building used for the infamous tunnel project near Logan International Airport.
May 27, 2007
No charges in killing
Volungis family
grieves son
WORCESTER— The murder of John E. Volungis Jr. 15 years ago
remains one of the city’s most provocative mysteries.
Not because no one could figure any reason that anyone would want to
kill the 21-year-old man who died Feb. 3, 1992, the night before he
was to leave for active duty in the U.S. Army.
No, motives were as plentiful as the blood around the body of the
young man whose throat had been slit and who had been stabbed 18
times after he entered his house through the garage
Suspects are not wanting in the case, either, as police have publicly identified two of them. What there have not been are indictments; no one has been charged.
May 30, 2007
Deval fund-raisers urge DA to reopen case on LaGuer
by Dave Wedge, Boston Herald Chief Enterprise Reporter
Two top campaign volunteers for Gov. Deval Patrick who formed a committee to free convicted rapist Ben LaGuer want Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. to reopen the controversial case.
“We believe that Benjamin LaGuer is innocent of all charges,” a letter from Patrick fund-raisers Susan Wadia-Ells and John Hosty to Early reads.
The letter refers to Patrick’s past support of LaGuer, who was convicted of brutally raping a 59-year-old Leominster woman in 1983. LaGuer, 44, is serving a life sentence but claims he is innocent.
Patrick was criticized during last year’s campaign for supporting LaGuer’s parole bid and donating to his cause. But the governor dropped his support after DNA tests linked LaGuer to the crime and has said he believes “justice has been served” in the case.
The letter, which is from the “Free Ben LaGuer Committee,” points out that several DNA experts hired by LaGuer’s defense team have reported that evidence was mishandled and forensic tests were flawed. A few weeks ago, the committee, which is co-chaired by Wadia-Ells and Hosty, asked the state Inspector General to include the LaGuer case in its review of botched tests at the state police Crime Lab.
“We urge you to request an open and transparent independent investigation of the crime and the evidence used against Mr. LaGuer,” the letter to Early states.
Representatives from Early’s office could not be reached last night