New trial ordered for former Boston police officer convicted of driving drunk
The trial judge should have held a hearing before deciding to dismiss the juror, the panel ruled.
A spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Kevin R. Hayden said Friday the office will make a decision on whether to retry Columbo after it reviews the ruling. (Columbo's trial was handled by the Essex District Attorney's office due to conflict of interest concerns)
Columbo's attorney, John T. Diamond III, did not return a request for comment.
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Columbo was convicted of one count of operating under the influence of alcohol causing serious bodily injury and two counts of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, records show.
He was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Peter B. Kruppto serve two-and-a-half years in the House of Correction in 2022.
It wasn't immediately clear from court records if Columbo has served that sentence.
While granting Columbo a new trial, the appeals panel judges rejected the defense's claim that there was not enough evidence to convict him of any crime.
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'Ample evidence enabled jurors to conclude that alcohol diminished the defendant's ability to operate his vehicle safely,' they wrote. 'He consumed alcohol in the hours preceding the crash, he approached an intersection at high speed, he drove at a speed that exceeded the speed limit, he failed to yield to a vehicle passing through an intersection, he failed to apply the brakes before the crash, he smelled of alcohol, and his blood alcohol content exceeded the legal limit.'
According to court records, Columbo purchased a 30 pack of beer and began drinking with other officers at the Youth Violence Strike Force's office around 11:45 p.m. on New Year's Eve.
Around 3 a.m. on New Year's Day, he got into his Ford F-150 and within 20 minutes crashed into another vehicle in Dorchester after driving into an intersection at 65 miles per hour, according to court records.
The driver was injured and a passenger sustained catastrophic injuries and had to learn to walk, talk, and read again, according to court records.
Columbo had a blood alcohol level of .11 and .12 during post-crash testing, which is above the legal limit of .08, records show.
state's police oversight agency in 2023, records show.
John R. Ellement can be reached at
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Boston Globe
16 hours ago
- Boston Globe
New trial ordered for former Boston police officer convicted of driving drunk
The trial judge should have held a hearing before deciding to dismiss the juror, the panel ruled. A spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Kevin R. Hayden said Friday the office will make a decision on whether to retry Columbo after it reviews the ruling. (Columbo's trial was handled by the Essex District Attorney's office due to conflict of interest concerns) Columbo's attorney, John T. Diamond III, did not return a request for comment. Advertisement Columbo was convicted of one count of operating under the influence of alcohol causing serious bodily injury and two counts of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, records show. He was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Peter B. Kruppto serve two-and-a-half years in the House of Correction in 2022. It wasn't immediately clear from court records if Columbo has served that sentence. While granting Columbo a new trial, the appeals panel judges rejected the defense's claim that there was not enough evidence to convict him of any crime. Advertisement 'Ample evidence enabled jurors to conclude that alcohol diminished the defendant's ability to operate his vehicle safely,' they wrote. 'He consumed alcohol in the hours preceding the crash, he approached an intersection at high speed, he drove at a speed that exceeded the speed limit, he failed to yield to a vehicle passing through an intersection, he failed to apply the brakes before the crash, he smelled of alcohol, and his blood alcohol content exceeded the legal limit.' According to court records, Columbo purchased a 30 pack of beer and began drinking with other officers at the Youth Violence Strike Force's office around 11:45 p.m. on New Year's Eve. Around 3 a.m. on New Year's Day, he got into his Ford F-150 and within 20 minutes crashed into another vehicle in Dorchester after driving into an intersection at 65 miles per hour, according to court records. The driver was injured and a passenger sustained catastrophic injuries and had to learn to walk, talk, and read again, according to court records. Columbo had a blood alcohol level of .11 and .12 during post-crash testing, which is above the legal limit of .08, records show. state's police oversight agency in 2023, records show. John R. Ellement can be reached at
Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Los Angeles Times
More L.A. car washes targeted in immigration raids, some closed amid fears of further sweeps
These days, Alejandro Cabrera doesn't do much work in his office. The manager of Touch and Glow Car Wash in Whittier instead stays outside, where his workers are, keeping his eyes peeled for approaching vehicles. If he glimpses a white Ford F-150, the type of vehicle federal law enforcement agents often use, or a gray suburban — or any car with tinted windows — his heart begins to pound. Cabrera has been on edge ever since June 9, when immigration agents raided the car wash and took three workers, although he said one was later released. His fears were only confirmed when agents returned five days later and snatched another worker. 'All the time, I'm always looking for those cars,' Cabrera said. The rash of immigration raids at local car washes have created stressful environments at the businesses that have been targeted and forced others to temporarily close out of fear of future raids. Two dozen car washes in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas have been the sites of immigration sweeps this month, according to CLEAN Carwash Worker Center, a labor advocacy nonprofit that said it has been able to verify these raids through community reports and footage on social media. Some car washes that have been targeted, such as the one that Cabrera supervises, have remained open. Others have lost enough workers — either because they were detained by immigration officials or because they're staying home, fearing future raids — that they have been forced to shut down. Misael, the owner of a car wash in Marina Del Rey, said he had to close his doors for four days straight because his employees weren't coming in. He opened the business seven years ago to pursue the American dream, he said. Misael, who declined to share his last name and asked The Times not to name his car wash out of fear for his employees' safety, is a legal immigrant from Mexico, but many of his workers don't have legal status. 'Everybody's scared. I'm scared too. But what can I do?' he said. 'I have to pay the bills, I have to pay the rent.' Misael said on Wednesday that business has been particularly slow after the raids, which could be due to the fact that customers at car wash locations have also been detained by immigration officials in prior hits. Car washes are nearly ubiquitous in the car-dependent Los Angeles, with CLEAN estimating that there's roughly 500 businesses in Los Angeles County employing about 10,000 people. The economic fallout of some of these businesses closing, even temporarily, is likely to have ripple effects. 'This is going to affect us all,' said Flor Melendrez, executive director of CLEAN. 'Because our restaurants are not full, our stores are not full, our car washes are not full, that means the workers in our communities who are not going to work, they're also not going to be spending. Those businesses that usually make a profit are not going to make a profit.' While some car washes that closed have since opened back up, Westchester Hand Wash, which was hit by raids on consecutive days earlier this month, has remained closed. Mehmet Aydogan, the car wash's owner, said of the seven workers who were picked up by immigration agents earlier this month, five have already been deported. Other workers are lying low, and several quit outright, said Aydogan, who took over the business two years ago. 'Everyone is really afraid to come back to work,' Aydogan said. 'They want to go back to Mexico, they told me. They don't even go outside the house. They are waiting until things calm down to leave.' Aydogan wants to reopen soon, but he said he does not want to convince workers to come back, just in case agents return once again. And he worries that in addition to the federal government crackdown driving away workers, customers will be frightened too — especially if the enforcement actions continue for weeks or months. 'This will be very bad. I will lose all the guys, and no one will come to the business as customer or employee. And everyone will think something is wrong with this car wash,' he said. 'It's destroying the business.' Early Thursday morning, several potential customers drove up to the lot where Westchester Hand Wash sits. About six cars pulled up to the normally bustling location, confused as to why their regular spot wasn't attracting a long line of sap-covered cars, as it usually would on a spring morning. Cynthia Bell, a 59-year-old resident of Playa Vista and regular customer, got out of her car to take a closer look at the sign that read, 'Sorry, we are now closed.' 'My car needs a good wash and they'll clean your mats and everything, but just looking at it, it looks kind of deserted,' Bell said. 'I've never seen it like this.' A handful of other hopeful customers asked Bell, who was standing near the sign, to confirm whether the location was closed. One man, who now lives in Seattle, stopped by while he was visiting in hopes of buying the air fresheners he used to love from the spot he once frequented. A small crowd of customers began to gather around 8:45 a.m., and Bell said she wondered whether they'd be open at 9 a.m. 'They're always open early,' another said. Minutes before 9 a.m., Bell drove away, seeing no signs the business would be up and running anytime soon.
Boston Globe
a day ago
- Boston Globe
After Karen Read debacle, Michael Proctor's work in other murder cases faces scrutiny
They have asked judges to grant them access to Proctor's work and personal cellphones, his work iCloud account, and disciplinary records for him and some State Police colleagues and supervisors in the office of Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey, court records show. Proctor did not testify in the retrial of Read, who was acquitted Wednesday of any responsibility in the 2022 death of O'Keefe, after a mistrial last year. But his role in the initial Read investigation could tarnish his other work. Advertisement 'I believe that the district attorney's office is going to find it harder and harder to run away from Proctor in the other cases that Proctor was involved in,' said attorney Rosemary Scapicchio, who represents three men being prosecuted for murder in cases investigated by Proctor. In cases that prosecutors do distance themselves from Proctor, she added, defense attorneys should be able to inform the jury and ask, 'Why do you think that is?' Advertisement As recently as Tuesday, a judge granted access to some records from Proctor's work and personal cellphones to Scapicchio and other defense lawyers in two pending murder cases, court records show. The identical rulings also ordered Proctor to provide his personal cellphone as well as carrier information to prosecutors and preserve the device and its data. In his orders, Norfolk Superior Court Judge Michael P. Doolin wrote that he had reviewed an independent report about data pulled from Proctor's work phone that found communications that 'support the defense theory that police bias played a role' in the cases. The communications do not 'specifically address' the defendants, Doolin wrote, but they 'demonstrate a pattern of bias and misconduct by Proctor in conducting investigations that fairly suggests there may have been similar impropriety in this case that casts doubt on his credibility as an investigator generally.' He didn't elaborate. Proctor, who has State Police Colonel Geoffrey Noble, who took the helm of the force last year, Doolin's ruling involved prosecutions stemming from two fatal shootings that Proctor handled as a lead investigator. Advertisement Shawn Johnson and Jovani Delossantos are charged with murder stemming from the fatal shooting of Ivanildo Cabral, 29, outside of Mojitos Country Club in Randolph on July 4, 2022. King, Johnson, and Delossantos have pleaded not guilty. Proctor was also the lead investigator in the death of Ana Walshe, 39, who prosecutors allege was killed by her husband, Brian, on New Year's Day following a gathering at the couple's Cohasset home. Morrissey's office has said it doesn't plan to call Proctor to testify at that trial. Brian Walshe has pleaded not guilty. But Walshe's lawyers sought a copy of all data extracted from Proctor's work cellphone and iCloud account as well as disciplinary files for him and other troopers assigned to Morrissey's office, and records from a separate federal investigation examining the death of O'Keefe. Norfolk Superior Court Judge Diane C. Freniere declined to grant Walshe's lawyers access to the full scope of records they've sought, though she allowed some requests. 'Simply alleging that there was demonstrated bias by Trooper Proctor against a particular defendant in a different case does not entitle the defendant to access to confidential internal affairs records in order to search for other potential impeachment evidence,' Freniere wrote in the decision. Since then, the prosecution and defense have reached agreements on protective orders governing access to Proctor's internal affairs records, an independent report of data extracted from his work cellphone and iCloud account, and text messages he sent about Read, court records show. Walshe has also asked a judge to toss some of the evidence against him, and a hearing is scheduled for next month to consider his request to dismiss the murder charge, court records show. Advertisement Attorney Larry Tipton, a lawyer for Walshe, declined to comment Thursday. Proctor is also being scrutinized for his role in an investigation that began before he was assigned to Morrissey's office. In 2017, Proctor was the first officer to arrive at the scene of a fatal shooting on Interstate 93 that claimed the life of Scott Stevens Jr., 32, as he drove a motorcycle through Boston, court records show. Scapicchio, who represents Holloman, has pending requests in that case for a range of records concerning Proctor, court records show. Chris Dearborn, a professor at Suffolk University Law School, said Proctor's widely publicized misconduct in Read's case made him vulnerable to challenges to his work in other investigations. 'There's a compelling argument that if you acted that inappropriately and unprofessionally in one case, arguably compromising and infecting that investigation, it stands to reason that he might have acted similarly in other investigations,' Dearborn said. Yet how much of Proctor's work will be turned over to the defense in those prosecutions, and whether juries get to hear it are unclear, he said. 'Judges are going to have to make case by case determinations,' he said. Laura Crimaldi can be reached at
