A Lowe’s-anchored shopping center in Weymouth has sold for $23 million — just a small amount higher than what it traded for in 2013.
Riverway Plaza, which stands on Route 3A near the Hingham line, was bought by a limited liability corporation…
post
Why wasn’t the jury polled in the Karen Read trial?
Jurors in the trial of Karen Read unanimously concluded she was not guilty of murder or of leaving the scene of a deadly accident, and were deadlocked on only the remaining manslaughter charge before the judge abruptly declared a mistrial, her defense team said Monday.
The disclosure was made in a defense motion Monday in which they argued that retrying Read on those two counts “would violate” the double jeopardy protections in the U.S. and Massachusetts constitutions. If the court needs additional information, the defense said, it should approve a “post-verdict inquiry” in which they are allowed to “seek additional proof from the jurors” regarding their having “unanimously acquitted the defendant of two of the three charges against her.”
So why wasn’t the jury polled by Judge Beverly Cannone before she declared a mistrial?
We asked legal expert Michael Coyne, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, that exact question during Monday night’s episode of “Canton Confidential.”
“Generally, they don’t want, the court doesn’t want the jury polled,” he said. “They don’t want to invade the jury’s space, in essence to ask them to reject their conscious decision individually.”
“She could have asked them generally, ‘Do you all agree that you can’t reach a verdict on count one, do you all agree you can’t reach a unanimous verdict on count two,’” Coyne added. “But you would’ve wanted to do it generally like that to the entire veneer, and not just individually ask each juror what their vote was, because that can be an intimidating tactic if they had chosen that route, and it’s not just disfavored, it’s not supposed to be done under the law.”
Following Monday’s defense filing, Cannone also ordered that the names of the jurors in the case not be released. In making her ruling, she said there “is a risk of immediate and irreparable injury should the list be made available to the public at this time.”
She did not specify the potential risk but said that people associated with the case had been charged with intimidation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Heat index in New England could potentially hit 100 degrees Tuesday
Our hot and humid airmass is here to stay for a while. Plus, there is still a daily chance for showers or storms, but our widespread rain risk has decreased a bit for Boston this week.
And the greatest chance for flooding rainfall is farther north across the North Country. This is because the remnants of Beryl are forecast to track farther northwest by the end of the week.
Highs Tuesday reach the low to mid-90s even along the east coastline as we have a southwest wind transporting the warm air…no sea breezes like Monday.
Dewpoints are in the low 70s for many in southern New England and that combined with the heat inland means we see heat indices 95 to 100 degrees. Watch for an offshore fog bank that may roll in and out through the day, especially across eastern Maine and around Nantucket.
More clouds will be around and by late day some storms or showers develop across western and northern New England but staying mainly north of the Pike. Any storm can produce quick rainfall that may lead to localized flooding as our atmosphere is so moisture loaded.
Plus, there’s an isolated chance for severe storms with damaging wind or hail. The storms fall apart around sunset as they head southeast. Dissipating to showers around Boston around midnight.
As our humidity remains extremely high and as the remnants from Beryl track into the Great Lakes this week, this will enhance our rainfall potential to end the week.
With an area of high pressure across the middle Atlantic, more humidity and moisture will be transported from the south. So, we’re trending a bit hotter, still humid, and more isolated rain and storms Wednesday through Saturday.
One thing to note is Wednesday afternoon to evening, we see a warm front lifting across western and northern New England. As this happens, some brief spin up tornadoes are possible, in addition to damaging wind or hail in the stronger storms.
Drier air may return for Sunday into Monday next week; however, we stay hot and humid.
Why was Trooper Proctor suspended? A look back at his offensive texts about Karen Read
Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read murder case, was suspended without pay after a duty status hearing Monday. He had already been relieved of duty and had his police-issued cruiser, gun and gear taken away, but was still collecting a paycheck pending the hearing.
Proctor had publicly admitted to making “unprofessional and regrettable” comments about Read during the investigation into the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. The investigation led to Read being charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving a scene of personal injury and death, which she denies.
Last week, after a nine-week trial, a mistrial was declared; her lawyers claimed on Monday that the jury had been ready to acquit her on two of the charges, including murder.
The internal affairs investigation into Proctor remains ongoing, a state police spokesman said Monday, while announcing Proctor’s suspension. The department will issue a finding on each allegation — sustained, not sustained, exonerated or unfounded — and relay the results to the state’s POST Commission, which keeps police disciplinary records. In such investigations, if charges are found by investigators to be warranted, they are adjudicated by a State Police Trial Board.
A major turning point in the two-month trial came when Proctor was forced to acknowledge and apologize for sending offensive texts about Read to friends, family and fellow troopers during the investigation.
Here’s a look back at what those text messages said:
Texts with Proctor’s friend group
During his testimony in early June, Proctor read through a text conversation he had with a group of friends he’d known since childhood on the evening of Jan. 29, the day O’Keefe died. After some discussion, a friend wrote, “I’m sure the owner of the house will receive some s—.”
Proctor responded, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too,” and told his friend that Read “waffled” O’Keefe, whose body “was banged up” when he saw it at the hospital. When a friend asked if O’Keefe was beaten up, Proctor said, “Nope.”
Proctor went on to explain, he testified, that Read and O’Keefe “arrived at the house together, got into an argument, she was driving and left” and added later, “there’ll be some serious charges brought on the girl,” explaining to the jury that he meant there was “compelling evidence” already that Read hit O’Keefe.
When a friend asked, “is she hot at least,” Proctor replied, “from all accounts, he didn’t do anything wrong. She’s a whack-job,” then spelled out a vulgar word for a woman.
Read’s attorney objected and Judge Beverly Cannone, after asking, “These are your words, Trooper Proctor,” had him say the word, “c—,” out loud.
Proctor continued, “she’s a babe. Weird Fall River accent, though,” and added a disparaging comment about her rear.
“Why would you text that?” Adam Lally, the prosecutor, asked.
Proctor replied that it was “unprofessional and regrettable comments [that] are something I’m not proud of and I shouldn’t have wrote in private or any type of setting.”
Proctor also testified that he shared a picture of Read being walked out of the Milton state police barracks, and when someone asked if Read was “a smoke,” he replied, “eh.” He then made a disparaging remark about a medical condition suggesting incontinency.
The trooper referred to that comment as as “unprofessional” and not something he’s proud of, but added, “these juvenile unprofessional comments have zero impact on the facts and the evidence and the integrity of this investigation.”
Later, Lally returned to the texts with the friend group, asking about the language he used and the time frame he used them in.
Proctor said it was 16-18 hours after O’Keefe died, having established “Mr. O’Keefe never went into [the home at] Fairview Road, we knew there was one shoe at the scene, one shoe at the hospital” and other evidence, like taillight pieces at the scene, that pointed to Read’s responsibility for killing O’Keefe.
“Based on the day’s investigation, it was clear that Ms. Read had struck Mr. O’Keefe with her vehicle,” Proctor said.
Texts with Proctor’s sister
Proctor testified he is very close with his sister, Courtney, and that she is friends with Julie Albert, a witness in the Read trial.
Proctor’s sister was incredulous, then noted that McCabe’s sister was “married to Brian Albert.” The trooper told the jury that it was an “overall innocent conversation.”
Later on, Proctor’s sister asked if the Canton situation involved a homicide, to which Proctor responded, “Don’t say a word to anyone.”
“Of course not,” his sister replied.
He went to say of the death, “at the very least it’s suspicious,” and told his sister that “Julie and Chris [Albert] were at the bar with the victim and girlfriend, gotta interview them.”
Lally brought up a text message that his sister sent later on, after talking to Julie Albert: “When this is all over, she wants to get you a thank you gift.”
Proctor replied, “Get Elizabeth one,” referring to his wife. The trooper told the jury that his wife had been stuck taking care of their two kids for 10 nights, and added, “I never received a gift, I never asked for a gift, my wife never received a gift, my wife never asked for a gift.”
Texts with Proctor’s wife
Lally turned to conversations with his wife, in which he again referred to Read as a “whack job,” this time after she was indicted by a Norfolk County grand jury.
Proctor reiterated that they were “unprofessional messages I should not have sent. I don’t have an explanation other than they’re regrettable and I shouldn’t have.”
Texts with Proctor’s colleagues
Lally had Proctor go through several text threads involving colleagues, one of whom the trooper described as a buddy with whom he hangs out outside of work.
Proctor described the friend busting his chops about a conference call with the medical examiner and doctor, who hadn’t determined O’Keefe’s death as a homicide
Later on, Proctor refers to Read again as a “whack job” in a text with another trooper, who replied, “Dear God, wtf, what the hell is inconclusive about the whole thing?” — a reference to the medical examiner’s office finding O’Keefe’s manner of death to be undetermined.
In another thread involving that trooper and a different one, Proctor said he made “a regrettable comment .. about Ms. Read’s medical condition.”
Later, on a June day when Read was being processed at a state police barracks, Proctor’s friend on the force said, “f— her, b—-,” in reaction to a statement she made claiming that O’Keefe was killed by the Alberts.
In a different thread, Proctor made a comment about Yannetti, writing, after having to stop processing Read’s phone upon finding protected communication between her and her attorney, that he was going through “his r——- client’s phone. No nudes so far. I hate that man, I truly hate him.”
The comment was “a distasteful joke,” Proctor explained, adding later that he was not looking for nude pictures but “location data text communications … more evidence contained within the phone.”
Mass. inspector general to testify Tuesday before House cannabis committee
Massachusetts Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro will testify before lawmakers Tuesday at an informational hearing on the myriad problems he says his office identified at the Cannabis Control Commission.
Shapiro last month pleaded with top lawm…
Economic development bill would clear the way for construction of pro soccer stadium in Everett
The Massachusetts Senate will dig into a massive economic development package Thursday after top Democrats on Monday morning released their own vision for how the state should pursue job and economic growth opportunities going forward.
The Sen…
