The case of Emanuel Lopes, the young man accused of the shocking killing of police officer Michael Chesna and 77-year-old Weymouth resident Vera Adams in the early hours of July 15, 2018, may well hinge on his mental health and history, lawyers indicated on the opening day of the alleged killer’s trial in Norfolk Superior Court.
“There were heroes,” said defense attorney Larry Tipton, addressing the jury and listing the people who rushed into danger to save the victims. “Don’t ignore their heroic efforts, but ask yourselves as jurors in this case, the heroes that they are tell you nothing about Mr. Lopes. They tell you nothing about his mental illness. They tell you nothing about the voices in his head and the erratic, unexplainable conduct that occurred that night.”
Lopes, 25, faces 11 charges, including two counts of murder along with attempted murder, weapons, assault and other charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution and defense painted a picture of that night in graphic detail during opening statements and the first of many witnesses’ testimony Thursday.
On July 14, 2018, lawyers stated, Lopes was seemingly having a fairly normal day with the friend he was staying with, Garret Hunt, Hunt’s girlfriend Kim Moreia, and Lopes’s girlfriend Mary Cronin.
Late into the night, the four went to get a movie from RedBox when Lopes got a call — from a man who had previously been involved with Cronin — that shifted his mood and ended the socializing, Hunt and Moreia testified Thursday.
From there, in the early hours of the morning, Lopes reportedly took Cronin’s white BMW, crashed into another vehicle by South Shore Hospital and ran from the scene.
Weymouth Police Sgt. Michael Chesna was the first to find him after a complaint of a rock thrown through the window of a nearby home, the prosecution outlined. A neighbor heard the breaking glass and witnessed the next startling events.
Lopes was ordered to drop the rock he was holding over his head, the prosecution said, but threw it at Chesna’s head. He then allegedly walked over, grabbed the officers gun and shot five times into his head and chest, the prosecution continued.
A responding officer saw the alleged shooter over Chesna and shot through his windshield, hitting Lopes’s leg. The defendant then allegedly ran and more gunfire could be heard as more officers responded.
Only after the incident would police realize 77-year-old Vera Adams had also been shot and killed on her porch nearby.
Lopes was found in another yard and taken into the police station before officers saw the leg wound and transferred him to South Shore Hospital.
Prior to opening arguments, the judge stressed the idea of “criminal responsibility,” a metric similar to an insanity defense. Under Massachusetts law, a defendant is not criminally responsible if they have a mental disease or defect and as a result are unable to understand or conform to the law and are sent for treatment until they are deemed no longer mentally ill and a threat by a judge.
Tipton stressed Lopes’s mental health history, starting in 2012 when Lopes first underwent psychiatric assessment. Shortly after, the defendant was compelled by “voices in his head” to attempt suicide with scissors in a guidance counselors office, the defense said.
The defendant underwent a series of assessments by 15 to 20 physicians, treatment for “major mental illness” and prescribed medication including anti-psychotics, Tipton said. The lawyer noted Lopes’s friends said he regularly “ranted” about topics like Martians, government conspiracies and the Illuminati.
The prosecutor Greg Connor, a trial attorney with the Norfolk DA’s office, told jurors the Commonwealth “will prove beyond a reasonable doubt” that Lopes committed the crimes and was responsible for his actions that night.
The trial will continue Friday morning.
