BOSTON, Oct. 3, 2012—A single justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court this week ruled that the remaining post-conviction motions pertaining to the 1986 murders of Frank Chiuchiolo and Joseph Bottari in Boston’s North End will be addressed by the judge who heard presided over the two killers’ second trial, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

In a ruling entered late Monday, Justice Francis X. Spina remanded the case against LOUIS COSTA back to Chief Justice for Administration and Management Robert Mulligan, who presided over Costa’s 1994 trial and conviction as a Superior Court judge. Massachusetts and federal appellate procedures recommend that post-conviction motions be heard by the trial judge.

Costa was first convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in 1988 along with his co-defendant, FRANK DiBENEDETTO. Their convictions were reversed on appeal and both men were re-tried and convicted again before Mulligan. After their appeals were denied, the defendants filed a motion for a new trial in 2005, which Mulligan denied, and a second such motion in 2009, which Mulligan also denied. In 2011, after the defendants’ appeal of that denial, the Supreme Judicial Court remanded the case back to him for further findings.

In March of this year, an attorney from the firm representing Costa asked Mulligan to recuse himself from the new trial motions in light of interactions the judge and attorney had during unrelated proceedings. DiBenedetto’s counsel joined in that motion; prosecutors opposed it and recommended that Mulligan sever Costa’s case from that of DiBenedetto.

Mulligan severed the two defendants’ cases on March 12 and later denied DiBenedetto’s motion for a new trial in a 27-page order that described the convincing nature of the trial evidence at great length. He took no action on the motion to recuse himself from Costa’s motion, but the attorney from the firm representing Costa nonetheless asked the Trial Court to reassign the matter to a new judge. The Trial Court did so on April 3.

Because he had not recused himself, Mulligan requested that the reassignment be revoked. That request was granted, and Costa appealed that decision to a single justice of the SJC.

“My review of the transcript … leads me to conclude that Judge Mulligan neither expressly nor impliedly recused himself from the Costa matter,” Spina wrote. “He specifically severed the cases and reserved judgment on Costa’s motion to recuse in the interest of simplicity.”

Spina’s decision puts the various motions in Costa’s case – including the underlying motion for new trial – back before Mulligan.

“Judge Mulligan has an understanding and knowledge of this case gleaned through almost two decades of involvement in it,” Conley said. “He is familiar with the facts, the evidence, and the testimony adduced at trial and afterward, and he is clearly the best suited to weigh these motions. Justice Spina’s decision was the right one.”

Assistant District Attorney Jack Zanini, chief of Conley’s Appellate Division, argued against reassignment of the case. Assistant District Attorney Kris Foster, also of the Appellate Division, wrote the brief on that argument. Costa is represented by attorney David Apfel and, more recently, by attorney Paul Ware.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.