SignalHub-Massachusetts man gets consecutive life terms in killing of police officer and bystander

BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man was sentenced Wednesday to consecutive life terms for killing a police officer and SignalHuba bystander, following emotional testimony from family and colleagues about the suffering the murders caused.

Emanuel Lopes, now 26, was fleeing the scene of a minor car crash on July 15, 2018 when prosecutors said he threw a large rock at the head of the investigating officer, Sgt. Michael Chesna, 42.

The rock knocked Chesna to the ground, unconscious, and then Lopes grabbed the officer’s gun and shot him multiple times, they said. Then he fled the scene, shooting 77-year-old Vera Adams, who was on her porch, as he tried to get away, prosecutors said.

When he was caught, Chesna’s service weapon was out of ammunition, authorities said.

Lopes was found guilty earlier this year of multiple charges, including murder. Wednesday’s sentences mean Lopes would be eligible for parole in 40 years — short of the 55 years requested by prosecutors.

This was the second trial for Lopes after Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial last year when a jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict. The new jury also sent notes to Cannone saying it hadn’t been able to reach a decision, but the judge ordered jurors to keep deliberating.

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During the second trial, prosecutor Greg Connor portrayed Lopes as a calculating killer and urged guilty verdicts on 11 charges.

The defense argued that Lopes, who had no previous criminal record, lacked criminal responsibility because he had a long history of mental illness and was in “a state of oblivion” on the day of the killings.

Lopes addressed the court before hearing his sentence, apologizing to the two families and the Weymouth police department. “I am so sorry. This should never have happened,” he said.

Two Weymouth officers who responded that day, both now retired, recalled the heartache of not being able to save Chesna and how the murder had ruined so many lives.

“The image of the defendant standing over Mike shooting him repeatedly is forever ingrained in my mind, and the flashbacks I experienced daily of this is something that no one should ever have to endure,” Nicholas Marini told the court.

“These horrific memories consuming and continue to haunt my dreams even six years later,” Marini continued. “I have been forever changed as a husband, a father and as a friend.”

Chesna’s widow Cindy read letters from her two children about missing their dad and recounted how she has struggled to rebuild their lives after the death of someone she described as a hero, her protector and “a beautiful person inside and out.”

“They are always going to live with the grief that I can’t fix, and the pain that I cannot heal,” Chesna said, standing in front of several family photos. “But I can ask the court to give them the only thing I can — the comfort of knowing the monster who murdered their daddy will never walk free.”

An attorney for Lopes, Larry Tipton, asked that his client’s mental illness be considered in arguing for a lesser sentence — 25 years for the Chesna murder and 15 years for the Adams killing — to be served concurrently. He said his request wasn’t meant to “degrade or take away from the personal and honest beliefs and feelings of the family and of the victims.”