This is a very emotional time for everyone but with this guilty verdict, the family can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
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It was a very emotional time for everyone but with this guilty verdict, the family can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Michael Chesna’s family finally getting closure after a jury found Emmanuel Lopes guilty of the Weymouth police sergeant’s murder, along with 77-year-old Vera Adams. Both were shot and killed in July of 2018.
“He died doing what he really wanted to do.” said Maryann Chesna, mother of the deceased officer.
His first prosecution ended in a mistrial in July of last year, when a jury could not decide whether Lopes should be convicted due to his history of mental illness. A second trial with a jury from a different county began last month.
After more than a week of deliberation, that new jury found him guilty and Lopes now faces life in prison.
“It’s just surreal sitting behind the person that took my husband’s life and their father. Having to look at him every day. But we finally got the justice that he deserved.” said the widow, Cindy Chesna.
The sargeant's father added “I don’t want anybody to live through going through that. That’s the worst thing you can live through.”
Lopes is expected to be sentenced on March 19.
Deliberations took about a week, beginning last Thursday. There were no deliberations on Tuesday, when a nor'easter hit and court closed.
Earlier Friday, Judge Beverly Cannone had denied a renewed request from the defendant's lawyers to declare another mistrial and sent the jury to continue deliberations.
Cannone had declared a mistrial in the original proceedings in July when the original jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision after three weeks of testimony and days of deliberation.
Lopes is accused of attacking Chesna with a rock while being arrested for driving erratically and vandalizing a home. During a struggle with the police sergeant, Lopes took Chesna's gun and shot him eight times in the chest and head, according to prosecutors. Lopes then allegedly shot Adams, a 77-year-old who was nearby in her home's sunroom.
His lawyer argued during the initial trial that Lopes has a history of mental illness and that has caused him to act irrationally. If he is found not guilty by reason of insanity, he could be sent to a mental health facility.
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.
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.
