Montana Prisoner Held in Homeless Man’s Charlestown Slaying

BOSTON, Oct. 29, 2018—A man serving a prison sentence for murder in Montana was arraigned today in the fatal beating six years ago of 45-year-old Normand Varieur, Suffolk County District Attorney John P. Pappas said today.

KEVIN LINO, 31, was arraigned today in Suffolk Superior Court on an August indictment charging him with first-degree murder. At the request of Assistant District Attorney Julie Higgins of the DA’s Homicide Unit, Clerk Magistrate Edward Curley ordered that Lino be held without bail.

Lino is currently serving a 40-year prison sentence in Montana, where he previously pleaded guilty to the 2013 murder of a homeless man.

Higgins told the court that Lino and Varieur were among a group of homeless individuals who would often sleep in the area of Paul Revere Park in Charlestown. During the course of a six-year investigation, State Police detectives assigned to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office collected evidence – including statements made by witnesses and the defendant as well as medical evidence – suggesting that Lino beat Varieur over the course of several hours on the night of May 20, 2012, after the men became involved in an argument. Varieur was found unresponsive the following day and transported to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he died of blunt force injuries to his head and torso.

Erin O’Connor is the DA’s assigned victim witness advocate. Lino is represented by C. Henry Fasoldt. He returns to court Dec. 6.

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