The jury considering murder charges in the 2018 killings of a police sergeant and an elderly woman in Weymouth, Massachusetts, didn't deliberate on Friday, more than a week after closing arguments were made, because of strife amid the jury, a court official said.
Deliberations in the murder trial of Emanuel Lopes, who is accused of killing Weymouth police Sgt. Michael Chesna and 77-year-old Vera Adams, began over a week ago, but the jury had to re-start deliberations on Wednesday after an alternate juror replaced a person who was dismissed because of a conflict with vacation plans.
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The jurors were sent home Friday without having come to a verdict. The Norfolk Superior Court's clerk said later that there was internal strife among the jurors, with one juror refusing to go into the deliberation room.
The juror hadn't wanted to go on the bus Friday morning and got their own ride home, according to the clerk — the jurors are from Worcester county and being bused to Dedham, in Norfolk County, for the trial.
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It wasn't clear what caused the delay; the clerk could only say it involved stress and that he wasn't aware the juror was being intimidated, harassed or bullied. He also said that case law doesn't support the idea of dismissing a juror over stress.
On Friday, after long sidebar conversations, recesses and a juror-by-juror questioning session to see if they could move forward, Judge Beverly Cannone told the jury she appreciated their patience and was sending them home until Monday.
"All things considered, it doesn't make any sense to deliberate today, so I am going to send you all home," Cannone said.
As the day went on, Chesna's widow grew visibly upset. Lopes also watched intently as his future rested on the jury's decision.
The jury is tasked with deciding whether Lopes should be held responsible for the killings — his attorney argued his history of mental illness caused him to act irrationally.
"We have seen juries debate for four or five days, even longer. But the longer it goes on, tensions start to build. And there's no doubt a great deal of frustration at this point," NBC10 Boston legal analyst Michael Coyne said.
Lopes faces a sentence life in prison if he's convicted. If he's found not guilty by reason of insanity, he could be sent to a mental health facility.
Lopes is accused of attacking 42-year-old Chesna with a rock while being arrested for driving erratically and vandalizing a home. Prosecutors said that during a struggle with the police sergeant, Lopes took Chesna's gun and shot him eight times in the chest and head. Lopes is then accused of shooting Adams, who was nearby in her home's sunroom.
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.
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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
