Richard Lapointe free on bail as reported by CT Now: “On April 10, 2015, Superior Court Judge Joan Alexander ordered that Lapointe be released on $250,000 security bond.
Alexander also ordered him not to have contact with any members of the victim’s family and that he be subject to intensive pre-trial supervision.
Appeal lawyers at the Chief State’s Attorney’s office have until today to decide whether to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision.
Prosecutors agreed not to oppose bail for Lapointe while they consider their options.”
As I said before, as fantastic as this is we must not forget that we do not know who did murder Mrs. Bernice Martin.
On March 8, 1987, fire fighters were called to the Mayfair Gardens Elderly Housing Complex, Manchester, Connecticut. They found Mrs. Bernice Martin, 88 years old, barely breathing, and badly beaten. She died later that evening in the hospital.
Shortly after 8:00pm, Mrs. Paulette DeRocco drove down North Main Street by the Mayfair Gardens Elderly Housing Complex when a man coming from the driveway leading to the senior housing complex, ran directly in front of her car. She almost struck him and swirled to avoid him.
Her statement verbatim: “I almost struck this man when he ran out in front of me. I had a red light at the intersections of North Main and Main Streets so I stopped. I then saw this man continue to run southeast and ran behind a brick building, 150 No. Main St. That driveway that this man had come from was the same one I saw the State Police Crime Van parked at the very next day on my way to work. When I swerved to miss this man with my car he never even looked up or turned around.
This man was a white male about 35-40 years old, about 5’10-5’11, black hair that was straight and looked a mess, like he needed a haircut. Med build not fat or skinny. He was wearing navy blue pants (dark), a chamois type shirt that had the tails hanging out which was dark navy blue, long sleeved, black shoes not sneakers, and I didn’t see him carrying anything in his hands. I saw his face from the side and I don’t recall any facial hair.”
The jury was never made aware of this evidence and police did not follow up on this information either. I hope we will be able to get her murder reviewed.