Mentally ill or deliberate killer? Trial starts for man charged with killing Massachusetts officer
DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — The prosecutor in the murder trial of a man charged with killing a Massachusetts police officer and an innocent bystander nearly five years ago told jurors in opening statements that the suspect acted with deliberation when he used the officer’s own gun to shoot him multiple times. The defense, however, on Thursday described a defendant who has spent years struggling with mental illness made worse by frequent marijuana use. Emanuel Lopes faces 11 charges in all, including two counts of murder, in connection with the killings of Weymouth police Sgt. Michael Chesna, a veteran and married father of two, and bystander Vera Adams, a 77-year-old widow, on July 15, 2018.