A new trial date has been set for the man accused of killing a police sergeant and an elderly woman in Weymouth, Massachusetts, after a mistrial was declared in the case earlier this month.
Emmanuel Lopes, accused of killing Weymouth police Sgt. Michael Chesna and 77-year-old Vera Adams in 2018, went on trial in Norfolk Superior Court earlier this summer. After three weeks of testimony and days of deliberation, the case ended in a mistrial when the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
Prosecutors said at the time they planned to retry the case.
A hearing was held Friday morning to set a new trial date, and prosecutors confirmed the new trial is now set to begin on Jan. 8, 2024.
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Lopes was charged with murder in the deaths of Chesna and Adams. He faces a life sentence if convicted; if he is found not guilty by reason of insanity, he could be sent to a mental health facility.
His attorney argued during the initial trial that his history of mental illness caused him to act irrationally.
Lopes is accused of attacking 42-year-old Chesna with a rock while being arrested for driving erratically and vandalizing a home. Prosecutors said that during a struggle with the police sergeant, Lopes took Chesna's gun and shot him eight times in the chest and head. Lopes is then accused of shooting Adams, who was nearby in her home's sunroom.
During the course of the first trial, jurors were taken to the neighborhood in Weymouth where the fatal shootings occurred and instructed to examine the locations referenced throughout the trial. These include the Queen Anne’s Gate Apartments in Weymouth where Lopes is accused of taking his then girlfriend’s white BMW, the intersection of Main Street and Columbian Street where he allegedly crashed into another vehicle, and Burton Terrace, where the shootings happened.
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Witnesses also described during the trial the moments their paths crossed with the driver of a white BMW on the morning of July 15, 2018.
Lopes' ex-girlfriend, Mary Cronin, testified during the trial, talking about their tumultuous relationship, plagued with concerns about his alleged infidelity and instability. At times she said she would buy him clothes, food, a cell phone, drive him to interviews and work, and let him sleep in her car.
“I noticed he was a lot more upset and angry when he was dealing with the struggles of homelessness,” said Cronin in response to questions from Tipton about his alleged history of mental illness.
She confirmed earlier testimony that Lopes talked about conspiracies, such as people in the government were Martians and that history was written wrong and needed to be re-written. Starting around July of 2018, she said he was experiencing more and more symptoms and seemed to be getting worse.
When they got back together in the summer of 2018, she said Lopes was upset when she told him that she slept with a former friend. That was the man who called Lopes hours before the shooting that claimed the lives of Chesna and Adams.
