January 30, 2019

By Shannon Dooling

Massachusetts’ highest court affirmed Wednesday the murder conviction of a man whose defense attorneys argued had received an unfair trial because they were unable to question state witnesses about their immigration statuses.

Fredys Chicas was convicted more than 10 years ago of beating Jose Santos, 31, to death with a baseball bat in Chelsea at a Christmas Eve party in 2005. Many of the witnesses were in the country illegally at the time of the trial, according to trial documents.

Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins applauded the decision, particularly the clarity of the court’s opinion.

Read more at: https://www.wbur.org/news/2019/01/30/sjc-chicas-conviction-witnesses-immigration-status