A Revere teen pleaded guilty today to his role in the fatal shooting of an off-duty Revere Police officer in 2007 and faces more than a decade in state prison, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

DEREK LODIE (D.O.B. 1/2/90) pleaded guilty to the crime of accessory before the fact to manslaughter, admitting that he called Talbot’s alleged killer, ROBERT IACOVIELLO, Jr. (D.O.B. 6/19/87), to a field behind Revere High School on the night of Sept. 29, 2007, after a verbal altercation with Talbot and other off-duty officers who were present at the scene.

“This marks a major step forward in our prosecution of the case,” Conley said. “It holds accountable a young man who was not the shooter, but who should have known the inherent danger of calling an armed associate to the scene and escalating it to the point of violence and death. We’re focused now on the trial to come and the promise of justice for Officer Dan Talbot.”

Judge Patrick Brady sentenced Lodie to a term of eight to 12 years in state prison – a term recommended jointly by Assistant District Attorney Edmond Zabin, chief of Conley’s Homicide Unit, and defense attorney J.W. Carney, Jr. The proceedings took place in Norfolk Superior Court because Brady is currently seated in that jurisdiction.

Zabin told the court that the evidence assembled during an extensive investigation by State and Revere police indicates Lodie was unaware that Talbot and his compatriots were police officers. Lodie, Zabin said, was cutting through the field when he became involved in a verbal altercation with Talbot, who made derogatory comments about the Bloods street gang.

Lodie took offense, Zabin said, and instead of walking away used his cell phone to call Iacoviello, who was “known to keep firearms” at a nearby location. Lodie summoned Iacoviello, who was armed, to the scene – amounting to wanton and reckless conduct in light of the probability that death or serious injury would result from bringing an armed assailant into the conflict.

“Do you admit that you’re guilty of the crime you’re pleading guilty to,” Brady asked Lodie.

“Yes, your honor,” Lodie said.

Prior to sentencing, members of Talbot’s family told of what they lost when he was killed. His mother, Patricia Talbot, brought two framed photos to show the judge.

“I was helpless to help him,” she said of the hours between his shooting and death. “If God had allowed me to trade places with him, I would have done it, no questions asked …. I overheard someone say at the first court hearing that he might not have been killed if he said he was a police officer. But it doesn’t matter if you’re a police officer or a man on the street – no one has the right to kill anyone.”

Talbot’s fiancée, Constance Bethell, also addressed the court. She and Talbot had been engaged to marry on Oct. 4, 2008.

“My heart still aches and my stomach is still often in knots,” she said. “It is hard to be strong. I miss kissing him goodbye each morning when I leave for work, I miss watching him put on his uniform each night before work …. Billy Soto, not only Dan’s brother in blue but his best friend, summed it up best when he read Dan’s eulogy: Don’t go to bed angry. Put aside your differences and complete what needs to be done. Know that life is precious. Live your life without regret. Do as much as you can in the short time you have. Love those you care about and help them, not only through times like these, but just because you have the chance to love them.”

Iacoviello and two co-defendants indicted as accessories after the fact are scheduled to go to trial in Suffolk Superior Court on Jan. 4, 2010. Kara Hayes is the victim-witness advocate assigned to the case.