Closing arguments concluded Wednesday in the trial of a man accused of killing a Massachusetts police officer and an elderly woman in 2018.
Emanuel Lopes, 25, is accused of murdering Weymouth police Sgt. Michael Chesna and 77-year-old Vera Adams in July 2018, killings that shocked the South Shore community. Chesna left behind a wife and two young children.
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The jury began its deliberations on Wednesday afternoon after hearing evidence and arguments for roughly three weeks.
The jury was selected from a pool of residents from Worcester County, but the trial took place in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham.
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The prosecutor trying the case, Norfolk Assistant District Attorney Greg Connor, told the jury during opening statements that his team would prove the litany of charges against Lopes — he's accused of attacking Chesna with a rock while being arrested for vandalizing a home after being reported for driving erratically.
"Mr. Lopes then took the gun that he had taken from the ground next to Sgt. Chesna, stood over Sgt. Chesna's body and then fired it eight times into his head and into his chest," Connor said.
Other officers eventually tracked Lopes down, shooting him in the leg before they could arrest him.
Lopes’ relatives and attorneys have said he has severe mental health issues, and the system failed to provide the help he needed.
"When he was examined by multiple clinicians, they gave him a diagnosis of not only major mental illness but something you’ll hear about – cannabis use disorder," defense attorney Larry Tipton said in court.
During the course of the trial, jurors were taken to the neighborhood in Weymouth where the fatal shootings occurred and instructed to examine the locations referenced throughout the trial. These include the Queen Anne’s Gate Apartments in Weymouth where Lopes is accused of taking his then girlfriend’s white BMW, the intersection of Main Street and Columbian Street where he allegedly crashed into another vehicle, and Burton Terrace, where the shootings happened.
Witnesses also described during the trial the moments their paths crossed with the driver of a white BMW on the morning of July 15, 2018.
“As he was passing there were stones flying, a little bit of fishtailing in the car,” Kevin Pearson recalled. “He flew through the red light at Route 139.”
Prosecutors allege it was Lopes, then 20 years old, behind the wheel who crashed into another vehicle near South Shore Hospital and ran away.
William Kendall testified he was drinking coffee and reading the paper that Sunday morning when he heard a loud crash in his kitchen. He found a large rock on the kitchen floor with glass from the window scattered around.
“I dialed 911 and I heard what I took to be gunshots. I then laid down immediately and yelled to my wife, Judy, ‘Get down! Get down,’” said Kendall. “My fear was that she would look out the window to see what was going on.”
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He said he counted four or five gunshots as he lay on the ground. Then he heard shouting outside.
“I recall the words were something to the effect, ‘Give up, you are surrounded.’ I heard no more gunshots, so I went upstairs and gave my wife a huge hug. It was an emotional time.”
William McGuinness said he was making coffee before heading to work when he heard the sound of glass breaking outside, about 7:42 a.m. He looked out the window and saw a man holding a rock over his head. He identified that man while testifying Monday as Lopes.
A Weymouth police cruiser pulled into his neighborhood and he said the man threw the rock at Chesna, hitting him in the head and knocking him to the ground.
“He proceeds to walk towards the back of the officer, standing over his head and began to shoot at him,” said McGuinness. “I believe it was five times in the face, three times in the chest.”
McGuinness said he ran into his house, screaming for his wife to help.
Amy McGuinness, a respiratory therapist, began chest compressions immediately but she said the officer’s airway was obstructed.
“There was blood all over his face and the right part of his skull, or his head, everything was exposed.”
She said more police officers responded. Some tried to assist her in attempting to administer an automated external defibrillator, while others went after the shooter.
“Gunfire started behind us. It was a very distinct pop,” Amy McGuinness said. An officer told them to get inside. “I looked at my husband and I said I'm not stopping.”
They said they continued chest compressions until EMTs arrived.
Lopes' ex-girlfriend, Mary Cronin, also testified during the trial, talking about their tumultuous relationship, plagued with concerns about his alleged infidelity and instability. At times she said she would buy him clothes, food, a cell phone, drive him to interviews and work, and let him sleep in her car.
“I noticed he was a lot more upset and angry when he was dealing with the struggles of homelessness,” said Cronin in response to questions from Tipton about his alleged history of mental illness.
She confirmed earlier testimony that Lopes talked about conspiracies, such as people in the government were Martians and that history was written wrong and needed to be re-written. Starting around July of 2018, she said he was experiencing more and more symptoms and seemed to be getting worse.
When they got back together in the summer of 2018, she said Lopes was upset when she told him that she slept with a former friend. That was the man who called Lopes hours before the shooting that claimed the lives of Chesna and Adams.
