Karen Lapointe-Martin stands by her ex-husband. She was called to testify yesterday. “Do you recall the day your grandmother died?” Casteleiro asked. “Yes, I do, it was a Sunday,” she responded. She recounted her family’s Sunday routine — go to church, visit with her 88-year-old grandmother, Bernice Martin, then go home for Sunday dinner. That […]
Prosecutorial Misconduct
Lapointe hearing May 5, 2010
The hearing before Judge John J. Nazzaro is focusing on evidence that Lapointe’s lawyers argue was previously overlooked, including the length of time that Martin’s apartment was burning until the first firefighter came through the front door, a pair of gloves found at the crime scene that contained the DNA of someone other than Richard, […]
Lapointe hearing May 4, 2010
Richard Lapointe could not have killed Bernice Martin. “None of the confessions fit the crime,” Andy Lefebvre, a retired Bloomfield police officer, told Rick Green. He has been following the case and doing his own detective work for years, after his parish priest asked him to look into it. “He should have been examined prior to […]
Lapointe hearing May 3, 2010
Superior Court Judge John J. Nazzaro began hearing evidence on Monday. The first witness was Michael Ludlow, a retired Manchester police detective who led the investigation into the killing of Bernice Martin. Martin, the grandmother of Lapointe’s wife, was raped and strangled in her apartment on North Main Street in Manchester the evening of March […]
Retired Cop thinks Lapointe is innocent!
Donald Connery, another long time supporter of Richard Lapointe, wrote an article for the Hartford Courant. It is worth reading especially this part: “… the forthrightness of retired Manchester police captain Joseph Brooks. His detectives lured Lapointe to headquarters on false pretenses on July 4, 1989, and got him to agree that he must be guilty. […]
A new trial for Richard Lapointe
Rick Green had an interview today with Richard Lapointe. On Monday, a Superior Court judge in Rockville — in response to a ruling in his favor from the state Appellate Court — will take yet another look at this endlessly appealed saga of what is either a wrongful conviction or a very crafty mentally disabled […]
Update Hank Skinner Case
The United States Supreme Court Justices put off a decision in the Hank Skinner case. It is from Texas, a state that executes more prisoners per year than any other state. Hank Skinner made an actual innocence claim, demanding DNA testing on other evidence gathered at the crime scene. The justices had issued a stay just before […]
Zeigler, Part VII: The Thompson Report
Vicki Harley Holland has a website about Tommy Zeigler. It is called “Prayers for Tommy.” She commented on my previous posting “This post will be written by you.” In it, she refers to “Fatal Flaw” by Phillip Finch, the book I also recommend. In the middle of her website, near the top, you see “Letters […]
Zeigler, Part VI
Zeigler, Part VI: On Preliminary Crime Scene Approach & Investigation Orange County Sheriff’s Office Detective Donald Frye was on duty in the Crime against Persons Section. After investigating the crime scene, he concluded that these four people did not die at the same time. With that, I agree. According to Frye, Mays had been shot […]
Zeigler, Part V
Zeigler, Part V: The Bodies Mr. Charlie Mays was savagely beaten, his face disfigured with blood coming through his skull, and he had been shot twice in the abdomen (once from the front and once from the back). Judging from the blood splatters, Mays had been beaten to death where he was found. The killer […]