Friday, January 25, 2013
District attorney Gerry Leone says he will continue to pursue 1st Degree murder case against Walter Shelley.
Updated at 1 p.m. A Middlesex Superior Court jury has found Michael Ferreira not guilty in connection with the 1969 death of Tewksbury teen Johnny McCabe. Despite the testimony of Edward Alan Brown, who admitted to his role in the murder and implicated Ferreira, the Salem, NH man was acquitted. The jury deliberated roughly five hours before announcing their verdict. District Attorney Gerry Leone said he was disappointed in the decision of the jury but that he intended to pursue the murder charge against the third man indicted in connection with the crime, Walter Shelley of Tewksbury. “Although we are disappointed with the verdict, we respect the right of the jury to render this decision today and thank them for their service to the …
Jurors will have the option to convict on 1st or 2nd degree murder.
About the only facts that Assistant District Attorney Tom O'Reilly and Defense Atty. Eric Wilson agree on is that Johnny McCabe was murdered some time in the early morning hours of Sept. 27, 1969 and that his death was a horrible tragedy. Beyond that, the men spun starkly different tales regarding how that death may have occurred during their closing arguments in the murder trial of Michael Ferreira. Middlesex Superior Court jurors began deliberating Ferreira's fate at around 1 p.m. A verdict is not expected today, as the jury will need to weed through dozens of pieces of evidence and several days worth of witness testimony. In his instructions, Judge David Ricciardone told the jurors they had the option to acquit Ferreira or to convict on…
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Co-Defendant called to the stand on Day 4 of cold case murder trial.
Michael Ferreira threatened to kill Walter Shelley and Edward Alan Brown if they ever talked about the events that led the death of Tewksbury teen Johnny McCabe in a vacant lot in Lowell in September, 1969. But that's exactly what Brown did Friday on Day 4 of Ferreira's 1st Degree Murder trial in Woburn's Middlesex Superior Court. Brown recounted how fellow Tewksbury High students Ferreira, 16, and Shelley, 18, came to his home on the night of Sept. 26 and recruited him in a mission to find the 15-year-old McCabe and "teach him a lesson" for flirting with Shelley's 13-year-old girlfriend, Marla Shiner. Brown said they found McCabe hitchhiking on Route 38, after having left a dance at the Knights of Columbus. He said Ferreira got out of …
Friday, January 18, 2013
Testimony continues in the murder trial of Michael Ferreira, accused of killing Johnny McCabe in 1969.
The prosecution in the murder trial of Michael Ferreira continued to build its case on Thursday, calling one witness who identified a car allegedly used in the crime and another who testified that the suspect actually confessed to her. Ferreira, of Salem NH, is one of three men charged in connection with the 1969 death of Tewksbury teen Johnny McCabe. Along with Walter Shelley and Edward Brown, Ferreira is accused of kidnapping McCabe off the street and taking him to a vacant lot in Lowell, where they allegedly tied him up and gagged him in such a way that it lead to his death by asphyxiation. During questioning from Assistant District Attorney Tom O'Reilly in Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn, Elaine (Callahan) Sutton testified that in …
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Ordered held without bail pending Aug. 26 court appearance.
Michael Ferreira, 57, of Salem, NH, the youngest of the three men charged in connection with the 1969 murder of Johnny McCabe, was arraigned Friday in Lowell District Court on one count of first degree murder. According to a spokesperson for Middlesex County District Attorney Gerald Leone, Judge Thomas Brennan ordered the defendant held without bail. Ferriera, who was 15 at the time of the killing, was previously charged with murder in Juvenile Court, but was moved to District Court last week following a judge’s ruling. Ferreira had also been indicted on May 26 on one count of perjury for allegedly lying to the Grand Jury in 2008 regarding McCabe's death. He had been being held on $500,000 cash bail in that case. An arraignment date in …
Kevin
3:13 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
By virtue of your statement " all of the evidence " you imply that either all of the evidence was not presented or there was exculpatory evidence that created reasonable doubt. There can be no debate, if Mr. Brown said he was there and participated in the prank gone wrong with the defendant, then any reasonable person would conclude that the defendant was a party to the crime. There cannot be any… more ›