Richard Lapointe: his Habeas Petition was denied as reported by the Hartford Courant. “Superior Court Judge John J. Nazzaro, in a 51-page ruling issued late Friday, turned back arguments that prosecutors had withheld material evidence, that Lapointe’s trial and appellate lawyers were incompetent, and that new evidence proved Lapointe was innocent.
The decision is another defeat in what is now a third round of appeals filed on behalf of Lapointe, who was convicted in the 1987 killing of Bernice Martin of Manchester. But Lapointe’s lawyer, Paul Casteleiro, said the legal battle would continue.”
Casteleiro has 10 days to seek permission to file an appeal, and if granted, will have 20 more days to submit the case to the Appellate Court.
“Lapointe’s lawyers also argued that DNA testing on a pair of gloves and a pubic hair found in the apartment established that Lapointe could not have been the killer. The samples tested belonged a male, but not to Lapointe, leading his lawyers to argue that “all evidence leads to but one conclusion: the gloves were worn by the assailant during the commission of the offenses.”
But Nazzaro rejected that conclusion, saying there was no proof the samples belonged to the killer, and that the evidence did not exonerate Lapointe or prove his innocence. The fact that Lapointe was not the source of those samples, Nazzaro wrote, “does not prove that [Lapointe] did not commit the assault and murder.”
I have written extensively about this case and why I believe that Lapointe is not guilty. You can find all my posts about his case here.
In 1992, Richard A. Lapointe was sentenced to life plus 60 years for the 1987 rape-murder of Mrs. Bernice Martin. Lapointe has Dandy walker Syndrome and is physically unable to carry out the crime which involved moving the body.
This case features police misconduct (illegal wire taps), false confessions (Lapointe gave four confessions and none match the scene), a disputed timeline, and forensic arson detection.