Nov. 30, 2009: GRAND JURY INDICTS ALLEGED GUNMAN, ASSOCIATES IN PREGNANT WOMAN’S SHOOTING DEATH
Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley today announced the indictment of three men in connection with the fatal shooting of Paula Castillo at a party celebrating her 18th birthday.
The indictments charge RUBEN SANCHEZ (D.O.B. 9/6/90) of Hyde Park with second-degree murder for Castillo’s Sept. 20 homicide on Hillis Road.
The indictments also charge MIGUEL VASQUEZ (D.O.B. 5/5/91) of Boston’s South End with assault by means of a dangerous weapon and ANDREAS BREA (D.O.B. 1/25/90) of Roxbury with being an accessory after the fact to assault by means of a dangerous weapon.
All three men are additionally charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and unlawful possession of a loaded firearm for possessing the handgun that allegedly killed Castillo.
Evidence developed in the course of the two-month grand jury investigation suggests that Sanchez and his cohorts arrived at Castillo’s birthday party and became engaged in a verbal altercation with others present. Another partygoer asked the three men to leave.
The three men did leave the building but continued to exchange words with other people outside. At about 2:30 a.m., Castillo leaned out a window and addressed them. With Vasquez allegedly urging him to display the weapon and “show them what you got,” Sanchez allegedly fired multiple rounds from the handgun. One of those shots struck Castillo in the neck. She died within minutes.
Brea allegedly drove Sanchez and Vasquez from the scene. A description of their red Honda Civic was relayed to Boston Police, who stopped it and brought the occupants in for questioning after the shooting. A search warrant later executed on the vehicle led to the recovery of a firearm.
Sanchez is represented by attorney Ronald Brandt. He, Vasquez, and Brea are expected to be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on Dec. 14. Nov. 30, 2009: PACKING HEAT: SUFFOLK PROSECUTORS BRING THERMAL IMAGING TECHNOLOGY TO COURTROOM A gun-toting Dorchester man last week became the first Massachusetts defendant convicted by a jury that heard expert testimony on thermal imaging technology, which demonstrated that the gun he tossed into a snowy back yard had recently been carried by a person, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.
A Boston Municipal Court jury on Monday convicted JOSE E. RODRIGUES (D.O.B. 6/30/84) of all charges stemming from his January arrest for carrying a loaded 9mm handgun on Whittemore Street in Dorchester. Following his conviction, Judge Sally Kelly sentenced him to two and a half years behind bars.
“Science and technology are advancing every day,” Conley said. “Bringing those advances into the courtroom is part of our mission and our responsibility. The work that began with fingerprints at the turn of the last century and continued with DNA as we entered the new millennium isn’t slowing down, and neither are we. When it comes to making our streets safer, we’re going to use every single tool at our disposal.”
During a four day jury trial ending on Nov. 23, Assistant District Attorney Tonya Platt of Conley’s Gun Prosecution Task Force didn’t just call the Boston Police officers who chased Rodrigues through side streets and back yards – she also called Priam Pillai, a graduate student in mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who testified as an expert witness on thermal imaging technology.
That technology, pioneered for military purposes and now used mainly as a firefighting aid, has been used by Boston Police since they purchased a Bullard TI Commander, which records heat output the way a conventional camera records light. Because a metal object carried by a person retains heat, a recently-discarded firearm – such as one tossed by a fleeing suspect – will appear lighter than its surroundings in the Bullard’s thermal image.
Though the technology has existed for some time, Massachusetts courts had previously refused to allow it as evidence until Suffolk prosecutors developed expert witnesses to testify regarding its accuracy. Toward that end, prosecutors reached out to experts in thermodynamics and related fields at MIT. Pillai, who holds a master’s degree and teaches classes at the Ivy League school, was selected as a potential expert witness after a rigorous evaluation of his professional, educational, and ethical qualifications.
Suffolk prosecutors then led extensive pre-trial voir dire and evidentiary hearings in a series of efforts to have him qualified as an expert witness. Those efforts were successful, and Pillai testified as a court-certified expert in heat transfer technology in the Rodrigues case and an unrelated 2008 bench trial. But for the prosecutors’ work to bring the thermal images and the science that supported them into evidence, Conley said, the jury would never have seen them.
“Television and movies can contribute to unrealistic or even impossible expectations when it comes to scientific evidence and testimony,” Conley said. “This case allowed us to go beyond the conventional and bring the cutting edge to bear.”
In addition to hearing from Pillai, jurors in the Rodrigues case also heard testimony from Boston Police who observed the defendant clutching his waistband as he walked along Whittemore Street on the evening of Jan. 12. When they inquired of him, Rodriguez bolted from their vehicle. Officers gave chase, losing sight of him briefly before spotting him with an arm outstretched as if having thrown something; they finally took him into custody in the side yard of a Glendale Street residence. Along his path of flight, they later recovered a 9mm semiautomatic Smith & Wesson handgun.
In addition to taking conventional photographs of the weapon, Boston Police deployed the Bullard TI Commander and took thermal images of the gun and the area around it. These were the images presented to the jury. It was under similar circumstances that JOSEPH RIVERA (D.O.B. 10/31/89), who tossed a firearm into a garbage can while fleeing police in May 2008, was convicted at a jury-waived trial on similar charges; the judge in that case specifically noted the importance of thermal imaging evidence and Pillai’s testimony to her guilty finding.
Rodrigues was convicted of unlawfully carrying a firearm, ammunition, and a loaded handgun in the Gun Priority Disposition Session, a specialized set of proceedings known as “Gun Court” and dedicated to the rapid prosecution of gun possession cases. Since its inception in 2006, Gun Court has been the venue for more than 500 firearms possession cases; it has reduced the average length from arraignment to disposition from longer than a year to less than six months while maintaining a conviction rate of about 86%.
Rodrigues was represented by attorney Timothy Bradl. Nov. 27, 2009: NO BAIL FOR MAN CHARGED IN JUNE MURDER
A Roxbury man was ordered held without bail today following his arraignment for the murder of 29-year-old Travis Lamont Davis this summer, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.
Arrested Wednesday by Boston Police, STERLING FUSI (D.O.B. 2/17/86) was formally charged today with Davis’ June 5 shooting death on a back stairwell at Fusi’s 2 Centre Terrace residence in Roxbury. Acting on a request by Assistant District Attorney Edward Krippendorf of Conley’s Homicide Unit, Roxbury District Court Judge Kenneth Fiandaca ordered Fusi held without bail pending trial.
Krippendorf told the court that Davis went to the apartment shared by Sterling Fusi and his brother, MAXWELL FUSI (D.O.B. 5/11/91), on June 5.
“At approximately 2:40 pm, as a result of a dispute that occurred within the apartment, Sterling Fusi drew a silver .45 caliber handgun and began firing it at Travis Davis,” Krippendorf said. “As Davis fled from the apartment running down the rear staircase, Fusi … ran after Davis shooting at him, striking him multiple times.”
As Davis lay dying, Krippendorf said, Sterling Fusi ran back into the apartment. Maxwell Fusi allegedly took the handgun, left the apartment, and discarded it in an empty lot across the street.
Acting on evidence developed by the homicide units of the Boston Police Department and Suffolk DA’s office during an active, ongoing investigation, Suffolk prosecutors approved warrants for the Fusi brothers’ arrests on Nov. 20.
Maxwell Fusi was arrested and arraigned Monday and held on $250,000 cash bail for allegedly possessing the murder weapon in the shooting’s aftermath; he is represented by attorney Darryl Malden.
Sterling Fusi was apprehended Wednesday in Malden. He is represented by attorney Robert Jubinville, Jr., and will return to court on Jan. 26. Cat Yuan is the assigned victim-witness advocate. Nov. 24, 2009: ATTEMPTED RAPE SUSPECT HELD WITHOUT BAIL PENDING HEARING
A Level III sex offender was ordered held without bail until a Superior Court hearing next week can determine whether his pre-trial release would endanger an individual or the community, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.
A Suffolk County Grand Jury yesterday returned four indictments charging DAVID FLAVELL (D.O.B. 6/22/69) with assault with intent to rape, two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and one count of assault and battery for the violent Oct. 22 attack of a 27-year-old woman. The indictments move Flavell’s case from the Boston Municipal Court to Suffolk Superior Court, where it will be adjudicated.
At Flavell’s Superior Court arraignment this morning, Assistant District Attorney Tara Burdman requested that Flavell remain held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for Dec. 4. Clerk Magistrate Gary D. Wilson accommodated her request.
The hearing, sought by prosecutors under Ch. 276, Sect. 58A, of the Massachusetts General Laws, allows for violent offenders to be held without bail for up to 90 days if “clear and convincing evidence” demonstrates that “no conditions of release will reasonably assure the safety of any other person or the community.”
Prosecutors allege that at about 3 p.m. on the date of the incident, Flavell was standing near a women’s restroom on the first floor of the Massachusetts General Hospital. The female victim entered the restroom and was washing her hands when Flavell walked in.
When the victim inquired about him being in the wrong bathroom, the defendant allegedly grabbed her and threw her to floor. During the violent struggle that followed, Flavell allegedly slammed the victim’s head against the floor and punched her in the face as she screamed and fought against him. Flavell then allegedly started to strangle the victim and put his knee on her chest before tearing at the front of her pants, ripping off both buttons and pulling the zipper down. He allegedly covered the woman’s mouth with his hand while she continued to scream and attempted to get out of the bathroom. Flavell is said to have pulled the victim away from the door, throwing her against an opposite wall, pulling her hair, and ripping the back of her pants as she again attempted to escape from his grip.
The victim was finally able to break free from Flavell and ran out of the restroom into a hallway, where witnesses saw her covered in blood.
The defendant exited the bathroom and tried to walk away from the area. A Massachusetts General Hospital security guard alerted to the assailant’s location immediately detained him. Hospital personnel observed that Flavell’s pants zipper was down and that he had blood on his shirt and pants. They brought him to a secure area where the victim was able to identify him as her attacker.
Boston Police sexual assault detectives responded to the hospital to seal the crime scene and interview the victim and Flavell. Detectives observed blood on the floor and walls of the women’s bathroom, as well as the buttons from the victim’s pants on the floor. Police also located and seized the handwritten sign that had been taped to the door.
The victim, who sustained serious but not life-threatening injuries, was escorted to the hospital’s emergency room for examination and treatment.
Flavell is represented by attorney Neil Madden. Anne Kelley-McCarthy is the victim-witness advocate. Nov. 24, 2009: EAST BOSTON MAN CHARGED IN THEFTS FROM WINTHROP CHURCH
Not content with allegedly taking more than $10,000 for work his masonry company never performed, an East Boston man allegedly stole $20,000 more from a Winthrop church using blank checks taken from the rectory, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.
MICHAEL BOCCHINO (D.O.B. 1/4/59) of East Boston was arraigned Nov. 18 on two counts of larceny over $250, one count of larceny under $250, and two counts of uttering a false check. Assistant District Attorney Jennifer OKeefe recommended that he be held on $5,000 cash bail; East Boston District Court Judge Roberto Ronquillo, Jr., released him on $1,000 personal surety, meaning that he could be financially liable for that amount if he does not appear for scheduled court dates.
In late 2008, Conley said, Bocchino allegedly contracted with the Holy Rosary Church to perform masonry work on the parish’s Shirley Street building. Throughout November and December of that year and continuing into 2009, the church paid him more than $10,000, but the work was never completed.
In the course of normal banking, Holy Rosary officials realized that more than a dozen other checks had been stolen, apparently from the church rectory. Those checks were made payable to Bocchino and, in some cases, the employees of his company, Bocchino Masonry. The total amount stolen is believed to be upward of $30,000.
Church officials brought this information to Winthrop Police, who made contact with the bank at which the checks had been cashed. Because many of the checks were cashed in East Boston, Winthrop Police contacted Boston Police and notified them of the alleged crimes in their jurisdiction. In the weeks and months that followed, the two agencies undertook parallel financial investigations of the theft and ultimately obtained criminal complaints in East Boston Municipal Court earlier this month.
“The great majority of contractors are honest, hardworking men and women who do the work they’re paid to do,” Conley said. “From time to time, though, we do see a small number who either pose as workmen or use the props of their trade to swindle unsuspecting consumers and homeowners. Targeting a church for this scam – and apparently going so far as to steal checks – is just appalling.”
Bocchino is represented by attorney Janet MacNab. He is expected to return to court on Dec. 21 for a pre-trial hearing, Conley said. Nov. 20, 2009: TRIAL BEGINS FOR MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING, DISMEMBERING FATHER
On Oct. 25, 2006, 70-year-old Edward Lee obtained a Dorchester District Court restraining order against his son, a Suffolk County homicide prosecutor told a Superior Court jury today. Three days later, a Roxbury woman discovered his severed head and limbs in her back yard.
It was Edward Lee’s son, BRIAN LEE (D.O.B. 9/14/63), who beat the man to death in the victim’s Hollingsworth Street home, mutilated his body with a power saw, and dumped portions of his remains in the Homestead Street compost barrels, said Assistant District Attorney Holly Broadbent. Brian Lee’s trial for first-degree murder began today.
The elder Lee was “a quiet man who kept to himself,” Broadbent said during her opening statement. “Occasionally, the defendant – his son – would live with him at his residence.”
Neighbors heard the father and son argue and observed their “cold and distant relationship,” but no one witnessed Edward Lee’s homicide, the prosecutor said.
That act went unseen, Broadbent told jurors. There would be no witnesses who could describe the fatal beating, she said, but jurors would hear of the “gruesome, horrifying, and yet calculating steps” Brian Lee took to cover his tracks.
On Oct. 27, Broadbent said, Lee was at his father’s house waiting for a garbage truck to arrive “so he could dispose of the bloody sheets and bloody mattress” on which he had dismembered the corpse.
On Oct. 28, he was seen walking into the back yard of a woman for whom he had once done manual labor. He was carrying white plastic bags, the prosecutor said, and was empty handed when he left.
The woman went into her back yard and opened the bags to see what Lee had discarded.
“She found the severed remains of Edward Lee in her trash,” Broadbent said.
Lee is representing himself with the assistance of defense attorney Denise Regan. Prosecution testimony is ongoing before Judge John C. Cratsley in courtroom 815. The victim-witness advocate assigned to the case is Katherine Moran. Nov. 16, 2009: EASTIE TEEN CHARGED IN DELIVERYMAN CARJACKING
An East Boston teen was charged with armed robbery and other offenses for allegedly robbing a Revere pizza deliveryman of his car and cash Friday evening, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.