BOSTON (WHDH) - The Boston police officer charged in the March shooting death of a 39-year-old Dorchester man appeared in Suffolk Superior Court Thursday, in a courtroom packed with his colleagues.
Nicholas O’Malley, 34, was indicted by a grand jury on May 20 in the shooting death of carjacking suspect Stephenson King Jr. He previously pleaded not guilty to the charge in a lower court.
On March 11, Boston police responded to a report of a stolen vehicle on Linwood Square in Roxbury at approximately 10 p.m. Police said King carjacked a woman as she was picking up her daughter from school, punching her and forcing her out of her vehicle.
When officers arrived at the scene, King was sitting in the stolen car before he backed into an unoccupied police cruiser and started to drive away. O’Malley fired his police-issued gun, killing King. He said he fired because he believed another officer was in danger of being struck and killed by the car during King’s escape attempt.
The District Attorney determined that O’Malley’s actions were not reasonable based on body camera video that remains under seal, and he was charged with voluntary manslaughter.
The judge in the case said Thursday he has concerns about a fair trial if that body camera video was to be released.
“In Suffolk County, we have a limited number of people who could serve as jurors, and so we can’t be depleting that jury pool by distributing evidence well before that trial,” said Suffolk Superior Court Judge Joshua Wall.
“Members of the media don’t have unlimited air time, to air a complete, body-worn camera video, and we don’t want this released in bits and pieces. The whole thing is relevant,” said O’Malley’s Defense Attorney David Yannetti.
O’Malley had no comment outside court Thursday, but Yannetti maintains his client’s innocence.
“Nicholas O’Malley is hungry for justice as we are at this point. And we’re fully confident that he will be exonerated,” Yannetti said. “He should not have been charged in our view.”
O’Malley’s next pre-trial hearing is scheduled for September. The trial is expected to begin May 5, 2027.
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