DEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - After more than 16 hours of deliberations over five court sessions, there is still no verdict in the trial of a man charged with murdering a Weymouth police officer and an elderly woman in 2018.
Now-25-year-old Emmanuel Lopes, who is mounting an insanity defense, is waiting to hear if he will be convicted in the murders of Weymouth police Sgt. Michael. Chesna and a longtime Weymouth resident, 77-year-old Vera Adams.
The families of the officer Sgt. Michael Chesna and the other victim Vera Adams are on edge as they wait for the decision.
Lopes’ legal team admits he pulled the trigger, but they are claiming he was insane and not responsible legally for what he did.
“It rarely works, but sometimes it has, and it rarely works especially in murder cases,” 7NEWS Legal Analyst Tom Hoopes said, “and here, it’s not just one homicide, it’s two.”
Hoopes said the jury is struggling and may be deadlocked. However, he said a hung jury is not a lock.
“Who knows what’s going to happen,” he said. “Sometimes long deliberations, four, five days, sometimes they end up as guilty findings.”
Hoopes said he believes most of the jurors want Lopes put away for life to protect the public, but there is most likely one hold out.
“Somebody is deciding, I think, and we’re just speculating here, that yeah, the guy’s nuts, and so the law is that he should be found not criminally responsible,” Hoopes said.
Though jurors have told the judge repeatedly they’re “stuck,” she has urged them to get back to work and do their best to come to a unanimous decision.
“You are not advocates, you are judges, judges of the facts,” said Norfolk County Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone.
“That tends to loosen the stalemate, but it doesn’t sound like that’s necessarily going to happen here,” Hoopes said about the judge’s statement.
Deliberations are set to continue Friday morning.
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