A Peabody District Court judge today scheduled an August re-trial for a Beverly Police officer charged with causing the 2007 collision that took the life of 61-year-old Bonney Burns.

STUART MERRY, 42, will go to trial Aug. 18 on a charge of motor vehicle homicide for the Jan. 20, 2007, collision between his marked cruiser and Burns’ stationary car. more »

The man once known as Clark Rockefeller “planned meticulously over months” to kidnap his 7-year-old daughter, exchanging his 2007 divorce settlement into gold coins and manipulating unwitting confederates well before he absconded from Boston to Baltimore with the girl last summer, Suffolk County’s top child abuse prosecutor told a Superior Court jury today.

Assistant District Attorney David Deakin, chief of the Family Protection and Sexual Assault Unit of the Suffolk DA’s office, told a panel of 16 jurors that CHRISTIAN KARL GERHARTSREITER (D.O.B. 2/21/61) had laid the groundwork for the alleged abduction of his daughter as early as September 2007 – before his divorce from the girl’s mother was even finalized – by telling a Maryland realtor that he was a ship’s captain looking for a home in which he would live with his home-schooled daughter while designing catamarans. more »

A Framingham pizza deliveryman pleaded guilty to a total of nine criminal charges, including four civil rights violations, for an attack on four friends in Boston’s South End last year, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced.

FABIO BRANDAO (D.O.B. 9/1/79) admitted to his role in the beating of three men and one woman, all between the ages of 23 and 27 at the time, as they walked peacefully down Columbus Avenue in the early morning hours of Aug. 24. In addition to taking part in the beating, Brandao referred to the victims as “faggots” as he struck and kicked them. Brandao was one of four assailants, three of whom remain at large. more »

“What’s a human life worth?” a Suffolk County prosecutor asked a Superior Court jury this morning during opening statements in the murder trial of a man accused of the 2006 fatal shooting of retired Cambridge Police Officer Myles “Tony” Lawton and the non-fatal of Lawton’s friend during an alleged robbery.

“This man, MICHAEL COLLINS, was able to answer that question on Dec. 5, 2006,” Assistant District Attorney David Fredette said. “His answer was about $40,000.” more »

The defendant formerly known as “Clark Rockefeller” will go to trial next week, 10 months after he allegedly abducted his daughter from the heart of Boston’s tony Back Bay and led investigators on a manhunt that ended in Maryland but sparked international curiosity as to his true identity.

Jury selection in the trial of CHRISTIAN KARL GERHARTSREITER (D.O.B. 2/21/61), a native of West Germany who most recently lived across from the Boston Public Garden, is scheduled to begin Tuesday. He is charged with parental kidnapping for the July 27, 2008, incident in which he absconded with his daughter, then 7, during a post-divorce visitation supervised by an independent social worker. more »

A 19-year-old Dorchester man will spend the rest of his life in prison for robbing a Turkish immigrant at gunpoint, then shooting and killing him in the chase that followed, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced.

After four days of testimony and a little more than a full day of deliberations, a Suffolk Superior Court jury found GARY JOHNSON (D.O.B. 10/28/89) guilty of first-degree murder for the Nov. 1, 2007, shooting of 47-year-old Mumin Manavoglu of Brockton, which left the shopkeeper critically injured until he succumbed to his wounds the next evening. more »

A Suffolk County prosecutor today urged a Superior Court jury in a closing argument to review all of the evidence in the case – including the defendant’s taped confession – and find him guilty of the 2007 fatal shooting of a business owner during the course of an armed robbery.

“All of the evidence in the case points in one and only one direction,” Assistant District Attorney Cory Flashner told jurors as he pointed at the defendant seated in the courtroom. “Right here, to the defendant, GARY JOHNSON.” more »

A 23-year-old man who was convicted Tuesday of the murder of an alleged rival inside of a Dorchester convenience store, which was caught in entirety on a surveillance video tape, was today sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced.

Suffolk Superior Court jurors deliberated for one full day, before finding JOSE DELACRUZ (D.O.B. 9/7/85) guilty of first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm for the Feb. 8, 2007 fatal shooting of Tyrice Brown as he sat on an icebox chatting with an acquaintance in the 24 Seven convenience store. more »

A Suffolk Superior Court Clerk Magistrate today ordered a Dorchester man to be held without bail following his arraignment for the fatal shooting of a 32-year-old man who was romantically involved with his former girlfriend, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced.

GREGORIO “MIKEY” LOPEZ (D.O.B. 9/3/90) was charged with first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm for the March 11 shooting of Shoughan Morgan following an argument between the two men at the woman’s residence. more »

A Roxbury man accused of fatally shooting 15-year-old Soheil Turner as he waited for a bus to take him to school, was today ordered held without bail at his district court arraignment, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced.

XZENIYEJU CHUKWUEZI (D.O.B. 4/4/91) was arraigned in Roxbury District Court, and charged with murder and unlawful possession of a firearm for the eighth grader’s death on the morning of May 7. more »

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley and Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis today announced the arrest of an 18-year-old male in connection with the murder of 15-year-old Soheil Turner who was shot as he stood in front of a Roxbury bodega waiting for a school bus.

A focused investigation by Boston Police homicide detectives, the Boston Police School Police Unit, and Suffolk County prosecutors identified XZENIYEJU CHUKWUEZ (D.O.B. 4/4/91), of Roxbury as the shooting suspect in Turner’s May 7 homicide. Based on evidence developed in the course of their investigation, homicide detectives today secured an arrest warrant for the suspect. Chukwuez will be arraigned at 9 a.m. tomorrow for murder and firearms charges in Roxbury District Court. more »

A former Chelsea High School football coach who was convicted of six larceny charges, was today ordered to pay thousands of dollars in restitution to the football team as reimbursement for the money he stole to pay for personal expenses and entertainment purposes while he was coach, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced.

Superior Court jurors yesterday found JAMES ATKINS (D.O.B. 7/7/65) guilty of five counts of larceny over $250, and one count of larceny by check. At a sentencing hearing held today, Assistant District Attorney Edward Beagan recommended that Atkins be sentenced to serve two years in the House of Correction, with six months to serve and the balance suspended for a period of two years. He also recommended that Atkins be sentenced to seven years of probation following the period of incarceration, that he pay $12,900 in restitution to the Chelsea High School booster club, and that he be barred from any leadership positions in a nonprofit organization. more »

“This case is about a 47-year-old father of three who went to work on November 1, 2007 and never came home,” a Suffolk County prosecutor told a Superior Court jury today during an opening statement in the murder trial of 19-year-old GARY JOHNSON.

Johnson (D.O.B. 10/28/89) is charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, unlawful possession of a firearm, and possession of ammunition, for his role in the fatal shooting of Dorchester business owner Mumin Manavoglu, during the course of a robbery. more »

A former Chelsea High School football coach who was convicted of six larceny charges, was today ordered to pay thousands of dollars in restitution to the football team as reimbursement for the money he stole to pay for personal expenses and entertainment purposes while he was coach, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced.

Superior Court jurors yesterday found JAMES ATKINS (D.O.B. 7/7/65) guilty of five counts of larceny over $250, and one count of larceny by check. At a sentencing hearing held today, Assistant District Attorney Edward Beagan recommended that Atkins be sentenced to serve two years in the House of Correction, with six months to serve and the balance suspended for a period of two years. He also recommended that Atkins be sentenced to seven years of probation following the period of incarceration, that he pay $12,900 in restitution to the Chelsea High School booster club, and that he be barred from any leadership positions in a nonprofit organization. more »

The family of Herman Taylor III, a promising young student shot to death in what prosecutors called a “gang war,” today told his killer, his allies, and their rivals that the senseless violence that took the youth’s life must stop.

“Our young people and their parents need to get the facts straight,” Taylor’s mother said as LAMORY GRAY (D.O.B. 10/15/85) was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for Taylor’s 2006 murder. “You own no streets or corners or blocks.” more »

For the fourth time, Suffolk County’s chief trial prosecutor today recounted the sequence of events that allegedly led a pair of drug-fueled killers to rob a 49-year-old woman of her bank card, then slash her throat and shoot her boyfriend in the face when they learned she only had $40 in her account.

“Evidence will be clear and you will know beyond a reasonable doubt that WILLIAM WOOD and QUINCY BUTLER committed these terrible acts,” Assistant District Attorney Patrick M. Haggan said at the start of the two men’s fourth trial. Two previous jury trials ended in deadlocks with majorities favoring conviction; a third was halted when the presiding judge took ill. more »

A Suffolk County prosecutor today told 16 Superior Court jurors that a convenience store surveillance system captured 19-year-old Tyrice Brown’s murder on camera and that the defendant, when confronted with that evidence, not only admitted to the fatal shooting but even said why he killed the man.

“Ladies and gentlemen, unbeknownst to the defendant, the 24 Seven convenience store had a surveillance system,” Assistant District Attorney Amy Galatis said during opening statements in the first-degree murder trial of JOSE DELACRUZ (D.O.B. 9/7/85). “This entire incident was captured on video, and you’re going to see this video.” more »

A Revere man was held on $100,000 cash bail and had his open bail revoked today following his arraignment on charges that he robbed a Revere Sons of Italy hall with a toy gun yesterday, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced.

JAMES M. PARKER, 48 (D.O.B. 10/8/60), was formally charged in Chelsea District Court with four counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, two counts of assault on a person over age 60, one count of kidnapping, one count of armed and masked robbery, and one count of resisting arrest, all for his role in yesterday’s incident at 8 Revere St. more »

A Dorchester District Court judge today ordered a 64-year Dorchester woman held without bail for the May 8 stabbing death of a man eight years her senior but left the door open for reconsideration of that order, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced.

In holding VERNA SEWELL (D.O.B. 12/21/44) without bail, Judge Kenneth V. Desmond accommodated a request by Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum, a former Domestic Violence prosecutor now assigned to Conley’s Homicide Unit. Desmond granted Sewell’s attorney the chance to seek a lower monetary bail later this month. more »

A talented student’s killer was convicted of first-degree murder and all related charges today when a Suffolk Superior Court jury saw through the “cloud of fear” that drove multiple witnesses to alter their testimony at trial, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced.

The man who gunned down 18-year-old Herman Taylor III, LAMORY “LAWS” GRAY (D.O.B. 10/15/85) of Jamaica Plain, faces a mandatory term of life in prison without the possibility of parole when sentenced Tuesday morning, Conley said. Jurors also convicted Gray of unlawfully carrying a firearm and unlawfully carrying a loaded firearm for the July 29, 2007, shooting that took Taylor’s life less than 500’ from his Crawford Street home. more »

Massachusetts State Police on Tuesday stopped a Dorchester man for overly tinted windows on the car he was driving, but they arrested him because he was using a phony name and was wanted for attempted murder, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced.

State Police assigned to the Medford Barracks stopped JEUDY GARCIA-SUAZO (D.O.B. 2/17/88) shortly before 6:00 p.m. on May 5 as he traveled northbound on Route 93 in his girlfriend’s 2001 Audi A6. more »

A Chelsea man who allegedly stole a city school bus last night will return to court following his arraignment today because the substance abuse center to which he was sent would not admit him.

RENE LOPEZ, 23, was arraigned in Chelsea District Court today on charges of larceny of a motor vehicle, operating under the influence of alcohol, failure to stop for police, malicious destruction of property, and other offenses. Judge James LaMothe ordered him held without bail while undergoing evaluation at the Massachusetts Alcohol and Substance Abuse Center, setting that bail without prejudice and further ordering that Lopez return to court on June 5. more »

A Suffolk Superior Court jury today convicted a former Chelsea High School football coach of multiple larceny charges for withdrawing thousands of dollars from the team’s bank account over a period of years to pay for personal expenses, including vacations and debts, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced.

Jurors found JAMES ATKINS (D.O.B. 7/7/65) guilty of five counts of larceny over $250, and one count of larceny by check. Jurors acquitted Atkins of a sixth charge of larceny over $250. Judge Judith Fabricant scheduled sentencing for 9 a.m. tomorrow. more »

A Suffolk Superior Court jury today found that a Roslindale woman killed her two children but suffered from a mental disease or defect at the time she committed the act.

Jurors found ANGELA VASQUEZ (D.O.B. 3/15/76) not guilty of two counts of murder for lack of criminal responsibility. Prosecutors had argued that Vasquez had the mental capacity to recognize the wrongfulness of her actions when she caused the deaths of 10-year-old Dennis Burgos, Jr., and 13-year-old Yasmine Burgos on or about July 29, 2007. more »

Testimony came to a close today in two unrelated Suffolk Superior Court homicide trials as one prosecutor urged first-degree murder convictions for a Roslindale mother accused of killing her two children and another called for the same verdict against a gang member who killed a promising high school student.

Assistant District Attorney Audrey Mark told jurors that ANGELA VASQUEZ (D.O.B. 3/15/76) was a “rage-filled mother” who “killed her two beautiful, innocent children because she simply had enough.” more »

A Hyde Park man today pleaded guilty to stabbing an associate to death, accepting a 12-year state prison sentence rather than face trial, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced today.

MICHAEL ROSADO (D.O.B. 9/15/77) admitted to stabbing 32-year-old Robert Kelley, Jr., also of Hyde Park, shortly after midnight on Sept. 26, 2007. Indicted for second-degree murder, which carries a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 15 years, Rosado pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to a state prison term of 12 years. more »

A former Chelsea High School football coach withdrew thousands of dollars from the team’s bank account in the dead of night near a strip club, a racetrack, a casino, and a downtown Boston sports bar, a Suffolk County prosecutor said today during opening statements in the trial of JAMES ATKINS (D.O.B. 7/7/65).

“This case is about arrogance,” said Assistant District Attorney Edward Beagan, chief of the trial team that prosecutes fraud, corruption, and white collar crime for District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. “It’s about deceit. And it’s about the compulsive behavior of the defendant, James Atkins.” more »

Three martial arts experts were ordered to surrender their passports today following their arraignments on charges that they beat a pair of Revere man outside a Chelsea restaurant, injuring one man so badly that he may suffer permanent brain damage as a result, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

Acting on a request by Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Lindade, Chelsea District Court Judge James LaMothe ordered BRUNO DACOSTA (D.O.B. 6/7/85) of Everett, IURY DEBS (D.O.B. 1/7/84) of Lynn, and DIEGO SANTOS (D.O.B. 9/16/85) of Everett not to leave Massachusetts while their cases are pending and to surrender their passports to the court. Lindade recommended that each man be held on $50,000 cash bail each; LaMothe set bail at $2500 each. more »

A Boston Municipal Court judge today set $1 million cash bail for a homeless man who allegedly raped two women in the garage of a downtown hotel in a period of two weeks, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced today.

Judge Sally Kelly did not set the $2 million bail requested by Special Assistant District Attorney Dara Kesselheim, but did order him held without bail pending a hearing on whether he violated his open probation for a 2008 assault and battery conviction out of West Roxbury District Court. more »