Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog
Kieth L, 22, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”), described by the Boston Herald as a “mama’s boy” is in big trouble today. He is scheduled to stand before a judge in Brockton Court. At this very moment, his attorney is wondering what he can say to get his client out on bail.
He may as well not even try. His client is not going anywhere.
The Defendant is charged with the most serious of charges, stemming out of an extremely violent scene in Brockton yesterday. He is alleged to have been raping a handcuffed Cape Verdean woman when the woman’s sister walked in. He is said to have shot the “intruder” to death and shooting the rape victim several times as she ran for help.
An elderly homeless man who may have witnessed the carnage in the middle of Clinton Street was also gunned down,, while two hero Brockton cops who captured the rampaging gunman cheated death by inches
A neighbor who lives across the street from the sisters said the surviving sibling still had handcuffs dangling from one wrist when he ran outside to assist them after hearing gunshots.
“I looked outside and saw one of the girls running, blood all over her,” he said. “I grabbed her and sat her down and told her to hang on while I ran to her sister, who I could see a distance away. But I could see her sister was already dead.”
The surviving sister, who was shot in the chests, kept telling her neighbor, “The guy on the second floor, the guy on the second floor.”
Authorities said the second murder victim was in his 60s. Neighbors said he was well-known to them as a homeless man who often came down Clinton Street in search of discarded cans.
The events began unfolding just after 12:45 p.m. yesterday, Police Chief William Conlon, said, praising the two officers who came under fire trying to stop the Defendant, a former neighbor of the sisters, from fleeing in his van.
“Officer Bill Devine was further ahead (of the chase). He knew the suspect was heading his way. As (the Defendant) approached Officer Devine, (the Defendant) reached out of his window and fired a shot at him. The bullet missed Officer Devine and went through his windshield,” he said.
Officer Jim Cronshaw, monitoring his radio while on a lunch break, jumped into the action to divert traffic away from the Defendant, who allegedly fired at him, too. Cronshaw fired back, causing the Defendant to crash his van into three other vehicles at North Quincy and Court streets.
If it were not for the actions of the officers, we could have been looking at something much worse that what happened,” Conlon said. “They really put themselves out there.”
A relative of the sisters said the girl who died was 19 and the survivor was 21. “They’ve only been here for a year,” said the woman. “I have no idea why anyone would target them.”
The Commonwealth believes that the attack was racially motivated. The Defendant is said to have had, the gun and “hundreds” of rounds of ammunition in his van and may have been plotting to massacre blacks and Jews.
The Defendant, described as an “overweight man who still lived with his mother” is scheduled to be arraigned today in Brockton District Court on two murder charges, as well as armed assault with intent to murder, aggravated rape and kidnapping.
Attorney Sam’s Take:
It is quite likely that this particularly defendant will not even see a bail argument today. Given the scenario attributed to him, as well as the fact that the police seem to have some reason to believe he was about to go on a killing spree of minority groups, there is likely to be a motion on the Commonwealth’s part to hold the Defendant without bail and have a “Dangerousness Hearing”.
If bail were to be an issue, it is unlikely that the Defendant would be going home anyway. First of all, there appears to be a number of eyewitnesses to various parts of the shooting spree. The case is rather strong. Further, making bail is often not a reality in homicide cases. This cases involves two murders. Then you have the assault with intent to kill regarding the surviving sister as well as the shooting at the police, etc. It does not get much worse than this.
So…I can hear it now…”why have a trial”, right?
Well, to see what else was involved in the case, of course. Granted, it looks pretty bad for the Defendant here and I do not envy the lucky lawyer trying to piece together any argument to let this man out. However, there may be elements which will be beneficial for the defense that will not be unveiled until down the road.
One possible defense that comes to mind is that of insanity. Certainly, the shooting during the chase can be seen as an attempt at “suicide by cop”.
In any event, someone might as well call mom and tell her that his room is likely to be vacant for, at least, awhile.
The full article of this story can be found at: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1146919
