March 3, 2007
Letter to the Editor
I’d
like the opportunity to ask the new district attorney,
Joseph J. Early Jr., why he refuses to revisit and review the issue
of the handling of Benjamin LaGuer’s DNA? ...
Those of us who are standing with Mr. LaGuer are not asking for the
prison doors to be flung open and he be let free. Rather we are
stating that a retrial is not beyond reason in view of the many
questions that have arisen.
We believe that Mr. Early should reconsider.
DOUGLAS MEDINA
March 4, 2007
Trooper investigated on abuse
of power claims
State Police looking into possible harassment of daughter’s rivals
in apparent love triangle
WORCESTER—
State police are investigating one of their own in the wake of
accusations a trooper abused her authority, lodged false criminal
charges and harassed rivals of her teenage daughter.
At the core of the situation is an apparent love triangle involving
a 22-year-old city man who was shot to death during a street robbery
last summer in Somerville, the 23-year-old mother of his two
children, and the 19-year-old daughter of Trooper Danielle Pires.
The man, Bernard A.D. Johnson, who was well known to Worcester
police at the time, had given the trooper’s daughter, Desire, an
engagement ring just hours before his death, according to a member
of the Pires family.
March 6, 2007
Ex-state trooper case is resolved
2 charges dropped, 4 continued
FITCHBURG—
Two charges against retired state Trooper Elizabeth M. McClure
of Rutland have been dismissed and four counts have been continued
without a finding for a year.
Charges of assault and battery on a child and disorderly conduct
were dismissed. The four counts continued without a finding for a
year, to be dismissed at the end of the year if no other charges are
brought against Ms. McClure, were assault and battery on a police
officer.
A trial on the charges facing Ms. McClure, formerly of Holden, was
scheduled for yesterday in Fitchburg District Court, but the
disposition was issued Feb. 15 by First Justice Andrew L. Mandell at
the request of the prosecution and defense. Pretrial resolutions are
common.
Ms. McClure, 46, retired from the Massachusetts State Police earlier this year and was honorably discharged. She was a state trooper assigned to the Athol barracks and to an anti-terrorism unit when charges were brought against her in September 2005.
March 9, 2007
Van family wins its day in
court
Superior
Court judge disallows eviction
WORCESTER—
Although the Sturbridge Board of Health gave the Wright family its
walking papers, the town has not seen the last of it.
Worcester Superior Court Judge Peter W. Agnes Jr. granted an
injunction yesterday on the Sturbridge Board of Health’s ruling that
prohibited the family from living within town limits.
Edward J. Wright, 47, his wife, Gloria A. Wright, 46, and their
daughters, Jennifer L. Wright, 21, and Nicole M. Wright, 20, along
with a German shepherd and two cats, live in a 15-passenger van.
March 10, 2007
Woman finally gets day in court
WORCESTER— After 83 court appearances dating
back five years, nine defense lawyers and a potpourri of judges, the
trial of rape suspect Anthony Leo is set to begin Monday in Superior
Court.
The alleged victim’s husband can hardly believe it. .....
Meanwhile, they have been critical of former
District Attorney John J. Conte, who they believe did not do enough
to move the case forward.
The two met District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr., who took office
in January, for the first time about two weeks ago and came away
highly impressed.
“He said if there was anything he or his office could do, to give
him a call,” the victim’s husband said. “With Conte I got nowhere;
he wouldn’t even talk to me.”
March 10, 2007
Alleged strip search draws suit
FALL RIVER - A formal complaint has been lodged against the Massachusetts State Police alleging that a female trooper subjected an 18-year-old Fall River woman to a strip search along Reed Road late Wednesday night.......
When the trooper arrived, identified by the Bolduc as "Trooper
Powell," Bolduc said she was placed in the back seat of the
trooper's cruiser, where she was asked to pull her pants down to her
ankles.
"While my legs were hanging outside the car, in that cold weather,
the trooper felt around my pants, and after finding nothing, asked
me to pull down my panties," said Bolduc, who obliged.
Bolduc said the trooper, wearing only leather gloves, began
examining her for any sign of hidden drugs.
Bolduc said the trooper also "squeezed" her breast area, as well as
those of the other two women in the group, but only Bolduc was
subjected to the strip search.
March 11, 2007
Some troopers' pay exceeds governor's Shifts at airport, turnpike lucrativeNearly 6 in 10 State Police officers who work full time at Logan International Airport or on the Massachusetts Turnpike made more last year than either the governor, the state attorney general, or the Suffolk district attorney.
Like all troopers, those assigned to patrol Logan and the turnpike profited by lucrative construction details, overtime shifts, and educational bonuses. But unlike all other troopers, those at Logan and the turnpike received daily reimbursements for driving their own cars to work. And they benefited last year from extra work directing traffic around detours caused by the fatal Big Dig tunnel collapse and providing security at the airport during an elevated terrorism alert.
Of the 320 troopers permanently assigned to Logan and the turnpike, at least 185 -- or 58 percent -- made more last year than the $140,535 governor's salary and at least 37 topped $200,000 in earnings, according to a Globe analysis of payroll information obtained under the state public records law.
March 16, 2007
FITCHBURG -- The Worcester County District Attorney's office is resurrecting its cold case squad under a new name, according to newly elected District Attorney Joseph Early Jr.
The unit will be called the Unresolved Case Squad at the request of John Bish, whose 16-year-old daughter was abducted near her Warren home in June 2000. Her body was later found in 2003.
Police have never found Bish's killer, but Early said his office still has "people we're looking at."
The Unresolved Case Unit, which was disbanded about four years ago, will consist of a state police sergeant and state trooper assigned to his office, Early said.
March 20, 2007
Hardly an honorable retirement
Trooper gets pension, despite
assault charges
At the ripe old age of 46, Elizabeth McClure is officially retired
from the Massachusetts State Police with an “honorable” discharge
and lifetime disability pension, courtesy of the taxpayer.
The former state trooper was deemed to be medically disabled in
January, 16 months after she was arrested by Holden police when they
responded to a domestic dispute at her home and she responded in a
manner considerably less than “honorable” by swinging a lamp at
police and kicking and punching them.
According to a spokeswoman for the state treasurer’s office, which administers pensions to retired state troopers, Ms. McClure receives $4,430 a month, or $53,160 a year.
The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld the 24-year-old rape conviction of Benjamin LaGuer, whose case dogged Governor Deval Patrick during his successful campaign last fall.
In a unanimous decision, the court rejected an argument for a new trial based on an 18-year-old State Police report that an appellate attorney said showed that four fingerprints found at the crime scene did not belong to LaGuer.
"We conclude that, in the unusual circumstances of this case, the fingerprint evidence that was not produced has not been shown to have any bearing on the defendant's guilt or innocence, and is consequently not exculpatory as to this defendant," wrote Justice Judith Cowin in the decision for the court.
March 25, 2007
LaGuer in good spirits after new trial denied
Benjamin
LaGuer, who has spent more than two decades denying his culpability
in the brutal rape of his former neighbor in Leominster, said he was
“in good spirits” yesterday despite the ruling Friday by the state
Supreme Judicial Court to deny him a new trial.
“I am undeterred,” he said in a telephone interview yesterday from
the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley. “I will not
exchange my honor and my biography for freedom. It is not
negotiable.”
......Mr.
LaGuer, who has been denied parole in part because of his refusal to
admit his guilt, said he would rather die in prison than accept
responsibility for something he did not do.
“I’m not like some politician who changes his position for two
electoral points,” he said.
Asked whether he was referring to Mr. Patrick, Mr. LaGuer replied:
“If the shoe fits, wear it.”
March 29, 2007
DA Joseph Early starts new cold case unit Trooper Dan Richard a questionable choice.While the formation of a cold case unit should be applauded by new District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr, his choice of State Trooper Daniel G. Richard to lead the unit appears problematic based on Trooper Richard's past performance.
Trooper Richard was exposed in 2005 by Worcester Superior Court Judge John S. McCann for “gross negligence” or “culpable negligence” by allowing a copy of the photo array of a murder suspect to be made and surreptitiously taken from the Fitchburg police station.
In excluding any reference to the photo array by the witness, the judge cited what he described in regards to the photo array which was shown to the witness by police as “crossed the line” and was “impermissibly suggestive” because of dissimilarities between the photographs used.
While State police Detective Daniel Richard was out of the interview room. The witness not only showed the copy of the array to another witness but also told the second witness he had identified Mr. Yang as the shooter, according to the judge’s ruling.
In regards to the Molly Bish investigation, it was also Trooper Richard's in 2003 who was contacted by a State Police dispatcher when the blue bathing suit that belonged to Molly Bish was located on the hill side in Palmer by Timothy McGuigan.
Trooper Richard failed to respond, as if woman’s blue Nike bathing suits had been located regularly only three miles from Cummins pond. Instead Trooper Richards told the dispatcher that he would passed the information along. This failure to respond resulted in the crime scene being compromised. The site was not described as a crime scene until weeks later when former DA John Conte publicly took credit for Molly's discovery, knowing fully his state Troopers had no participation in the bathing suit discovery.
While trooper Richard was previously assigned to the Auburn C-Pac unit. He was paid huge sums of overtime money along with other Auburn state police detectives in regard to the Bish investigation which to date has obtained no results.
In the end, it was an astute private citizen, Timothy McGuigan who brought Molly home not the state police nor former District Attorney John J. Conte.
As a result of his exposure on CBS and the Discovery channel, McGuigan continues to receive information concerning unsolved murders from those reluctant to speak to the District Attorney's office.
Honesty and integrity is the corner stone of our justice system and without it we stand to lose our civil liberties, our faith in government, and the basic rights afforded to all American's
As we can support the formation of the cold case unit a true leader with a proven track record of successful investigative abilities needs to be chosen.