Connecticut Supreme Court Orders New Trial For Richard Lapointe after the state’s appeal from Sept 17, 2013!
From the Hartford Courant of March 31, 2015 is says:”the mentally disabled dishwasher was denied evidence supporting his innocence when he was tried and convicted a quarter-century ago for the rape and murder of his then-wife’s 88-year-old grandmother.
The 4-2 decision, written for the majority by Justice Richard N. Palmer, has renewed calls for the 69-year-old Lapointe’s release. He has been imprisoned continuously since his arrest in July 1989 for capital murder, rape and other crimes.
He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.”
On March 8, 1987, fire fighters found Mrs. Bernice Martin inside the Mayfair Gardens Elderly Housing Complex, Manchester, Connecticut. She had been brutally beaten and passed away that same night in the hospital.
Richard Lapointe was arrested and interrogated for multiple hours without a lawyer or a guardian present. And yes, he needed help. Lapointe is mentally retarded and has Dandy Walker Syndrome. Under pressure to make the interrogation stop so he could go home, he gave several confessions. None match the crime scene.
All my posts about Richard Lapointe can be found here. A detailed post about the decision will follow shortly.
[…] decision to grant a new trial is here ( RICHARD LAPOINTE v. COMMISSIONER OF CORRECTION). A few […]