A gym teacher in Salem, Massachusetts, arrested last month on allegations of child exploitation pleaded not guilty to a grand jury indictment Friday.
Darren Benedick was arraigned on child exploitation charges in Essex County Superior Court.
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Massachusetts
Motion to dismiss denied: Review the full Karen Read ruling
Judge Beverly Cannone issued a highly-anticipated ruling Friday in the controversial Karen Read murder case, denying a defense motion to dismiss two of the charges, including second-degree murder.
The denial of the motion to dismiss means the case now remains on track for a second trial on Jan. 27, 2025.
You can read the full 21-page ruling below:
Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, during a snowstorm outside a Canton home in January 2022, though her team has maintained that she was framed.
She was charged with murder in the second degree, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence of liquor and leaving a scene of personal injury and death.
After a mistrial was declared in Read’s first trial, her attorneys had filed a motion seeking to have two of her charges dismissed: second degree murder and leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death. They said multiple jurors who were on the case now claim during deliberations the entire jury agreed Read was not guilty of either charge.
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Judge denies Karen Read’s motion to dismiss 2 charges
The judge overseeing the Karen Read case has denied her motion to dismiss two of the charges against her.
Judge Beverly Cannone issued the ruling Friday, two weeks to the day after holding a hearing where she heard arguments from the defense team and prosecutors about dropping the charges.
“After careful consideration, this Court concludes that because the defendant was not acquitted of any charges and defense counsel consented to the Court’s declaration of a mistrial, double jeopardy is not implicated by retrial of the defendant,” Cannone wrote in her ruling. “The motion is therefore DENIED.”
Read’s next murder trial is set to begin in January.
You can read the full 21-page decision below:
Read the Karen Read ruling:
Read’s defense had said in moving to dismiss the pair of charges, including second-degree murder and leaving the scene of personal injury, that five jurors have come forward — three directly to them — and confirmed the jury was only unable to agree on the manslaughter charge. The defense argued that retrial on those two charges would violate double jeopardy protections because the jury had unanimously agreed to acquit Read on those charges.
The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting the Read case, released a statement Friday morning in response to Cannone’s ruling.
“We believe that the judge’s decision is consistent with almost 200 years of case law,” the statement said. “We are moving forward to trying this case January 27.”
Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, during a snowstorm outside a Canton home in January 2022, though her team has maintained that she was framed.
Her defense team filed the motion to dismiss a week after a mistrial was declared in the murder case, leaving unresolved a matter that has divided the community of Canton and attracted attention far beyond Massachusetts.
More Karen Read stories
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Police searching for vehicle in Newburyport hit-and-run involving bicyclist
A vehicle hit a bicyclist earlier this week in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and then took off, police said, asking for the public’s help in finding the vehicle.
The incident occurred at about 4:43 p.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Pond…
Spilka, Wu continue talks on tax bill, but some senators say ‘serious concerns’ remain
The City of Boston’s House-approved bid to temporarily shift some of its property tax burden onto the business sector continues to stall in the Senate, where the top Democrat has raised questions about support for the bill and members gave a markedly muted response this week to an informal State House News Service poll asking for their thoughts on it.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has framed her plan, which has garnered extensive media coverage since she proposed it in April, as necessary to avoid a potential 33% hike in residential tax bills. But South Boston Sen. Nick Collins pointed Thursday to the city’s hulking rainy day funds as a way to smooth out the tax burden and said he has heard “so much opposition” to the mayor’s idea.
Given 48 hours to weigh in on the bill during the light-duty August recess, only nine of 40 senators or their staffs replied to the News Service’s inquiry, which asked whether lawmakers support allowing the City of Boston to temporarily shift its tax rates or whether they have concerns about the bill.
Of those nine, three said there were “concerns” around the home-rule petition, two indicated they were open to considering the proposal, and Senate President Karen Spilka’s office issued a new statement saying that she was “open to continuing conversations” with City Hall.
Three offices, those of Sens. John Cronin, Pavel Payano, and Michael Rodrigues, expressly declined to comment on the bill in response to the News Service’s question. Rodrigues chairs the Committee on Ways and Means which has held jurisdiction over the proposal since Aug. 5.
The lack of participation in the News Service’s poll, which provided two days for a response, could indicate that senators are undecided on the subject or that they do not wish to wade into a local matter that ballooned into a war of words between Wu and Spilka. Or, the silence of a majority of offices could also be a symptom of lawmakers’ traditional August vacation month.
Wu knocked the Senate on WGBH’s “Boston Public Radio” earlier this month, saying that if the bill is not enacted, “every single resident in the city of Boston will know that their taxes are going up because the Senate did not vote through that last step.”
A Spilka spokesperson shot back with a pointed critique of the bill: “Blaming the Senate may be politically convenient for the Mayor, but it does nothing to improve a policy proposal that has been widely questioned by fiscal watchdog agencies and could do serious damage to Boston’s economy.”
The president “has received no indication that there is sufficient support among Senators for this policy proposal to move forward,” the spokesperson said at the time.
In the post-July season of informal sessions, “sufficient” support can generally mean the ability to pass a measure without a single lawmaker objecting to its progress. Then again, few senators attend informal sessions, which typically unfold without a quorum present.
Collins, one of three to indicate reservations about the bill’s advancement, cited concerns about it from the business sector.
“We’re still hearing a lot of concerns that the legislation hasn’t changed, that has had so much opposition from the retail community, business community, and folks in general,” Collins said Thursday, “about taxes [going] up while the rainy day funds in Boston are double what they need to be, according to Moody’s.”
Sen. Michael Barrett of Lexington “has serious concerns about the bill,” his communications director, Ethan Raye, told the News Service.
And Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr of Gloucester “has concerns around this topic,” communications director Jessica Margiotta said.
In a fresh statement this week, Spilka’s spokesperson said, “Mayor Wu and the Senate President spoke last week about the proposal. The Senate President and the Senate are committed to creating good and smart policy, and to that end, remain open to continuing conversations with the City of Boston and other stakeholders.”
The petition was filed for the City Council’s consideration on April 1, reported out of the council’s Government Operations Committee on June 5, and was passed the same day on an 8-4 vote. It was presented before the Legislature on June 18 by Rep. Rob Consalvo of Hyde Park as H 4805 and drew no cosponsors.
“I want to emphasize that we’re not trying to increase the amount of taxes that businesses will pay,” Wu told the Joint Revenue Committee at a State House hearing in mid-July. “Overall, business taxes will still go down under the proposal that we’re putting before you. But we’re just making it so that it’s not going down by as much as it would have otherwise, because we want residents not to go up by as much as they would have otherwise as well.”
The Revenue Committee advanced the bill on July 25, but co-chair Sen. Susan Moran has for weeks declined to discuss it or her position on it, with aides saying earlier this month that she was unavailable for an interview. Moran did not response to the News Service poll.
A redrafted version emerged from the House Ways and Means Committee and cleared the House on July 30, the penultimate day of formal sessions, on a nearly party line vote of 133-24. In the Senate, Democrats hold 36 seats compared to four for Republicans.
It stalled in the Senate, with Spilka using it as evidence in a dispute with House Speaker Ronald Mariano about late-session priorities.
Parts of Boston are represented in the Senate by Sens. Liz Miranda, Lydia Edwards, Michael Rush, William Brownsberger, Sal DiDomenico, and Collins. None of Boston’s five other senators replied to the News Service within the two-day window provided. Edwards is currently away on training with the National Guard.
Sen. Patricia Jehlen of Somerville was one of two senators to offer open-minded or optimistic comments about Boston’s bid to shift its tax rates.
“I support communities finding tools to manage the unique issues they’re facing,” Jehlen said. “I hope a resolution can be found that can deal with needs of homeowners, businesses, and the city.”
Sen. Michael Moore said he supported the concept of municipal free will, but held off on making a “judgment” just yet.
“Given the lingering uncertainties regarding exact details of the City of Boston’s home rule petition and the handshake commitments made by Mayor Michelle Wu to change its implementation, I will reserve judgment until this bill is brought before the Senate. That being said, I believe municipalities should have the ability to make policy changes that will work best for them. If the community has put this policy through its standard legislative process, I don’t see a reason why the state government should stand in their way,” the Millbury Democrat said.
‘The allegations are pretty serious’: Feds object to Weymouth contractor’s bankruptcy
The branch of the Department of Justice that polices bankruptcy cases is taking action against a Weymouth home improvement contractor who abruptly shuttered his business last year, leaving customers with a trail of unfinished projects.
According to a recent complaint filed in federal court, the U.S. Trustee is objecting to the discharge of Liam McNeil’s debts. McNeil is a licensed nurse practitioner who had been moonlighting as a contractor running LHS Construction.
As we reported in April, customers accuse McNeil of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments, and then trying to get the debts on the unfinished projects wiped away by bankruptcy.
Some of the alleged victims even include doctors and nurses who worked with McNeil.
During the initial bankruptcy proceedings, McNeil struggled to provide specifics about how he spent customer funds. As we reported, the U.S. Trustee later ordered a list of financial records and deposed McNeil and his wife.
It is now clear that the U.S. Trustee was not satisfied with the answers the agency received from the contractor.
“The allegations that are lodged in the complaint, in my opinion, are pretty serious,” said Joshua Burnett, a bankruptcy attorney who is not involved in the case.
According to court documents, the allegations against McNeil include not disclosing bank accounts, not disclosing a transfer of money to his wife, and making false oaths on his bankruptcy filings.
The complaint also alleges that McNeil did not have records showing how his business brought in $2 million in revenue in 2023, yet the contractor claimed a loss on his tax returns.
“If you can’t explain how you supposedly made a lot of money and then lost all of it, you can’t explain where the money is and where the money should be,” Burnett explained.
McNeil and his attorney, Marques Lipton, have not responded to our questions about the U.S. Trustee’s complaint. Lipton previously told us that his client was fully cooperating with the agency’s requests for financial documents.
When we caught up to McNeil in April to get an explanation, he remained vague about what went wrong.
“I feel horrible about the whole thing. It’s not why I started a business,” McNeil said. “Just way in over my head, really. Just wasn’t good at it.”
We later discovered how McNeil’s father had an extremely similar scenario play out when he operated a contracting business while working as a Randolph firefighter.
Desa Vazquez just moved into her new home in Mansfield about six months behind schedule.
Vazquez, a mom of three kids, had hired McNeil for the construction project and paid him $40,000 to clear the land and pour the foundation.
However, after chopping down a few trees, the contractor said he was filing for bankruptcy and that her money was gone.
“We’re still recovering,” Vazquez said. “We had to make some sacrifices in the build. It’s going to take a lot of time to recuperate that money.”
Vazquez first reached out to us because she knew there were other customers trying to dig out of a financial hole.
If McNeil’s bankruptcy is denied, it means that Vazquez and other customers could still pursue the money that they’re owed.
Given the latest developments with the U.S. Trustee, she feels validated that she didn’t give up and take the loss.
“We really appreciate all the work you did with your investigation,” Vazquez said. “I truly, truly am grateful.”
Ryan Kath can be reached at ryan.kath@nbcuni.com. You can follow him on Twitter or on Instagram.
