Retrial in 2024 for Emanuel Lopes, man charged with killing Weymouth Police Officer Michael Chesna, bystander
DEDHAM - The retrial of Emanuel Lopes, the man charged with killing Weymouth Police Sgt. Michael Chesna and innocent bystander Vera Adams back in 2018, will be held next year.
At a hearing in Norfolk Superior Court Friday, a judge set January 8, 2024 for the start of jury selection in Lopes' new trial.
Earlier this month, the judge declared a mistrial after the first jury couldn't decide whether Lopes is a murderer or mentally ill.
Lopes, 24, faced a total of 11 charges in the horrific attack on July 15, 2018. He was hoping to be found not guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutors were hoping to send him to prison with two life sentences.
Police said Lopes was involved in a minor car crash near South Shore Hospital that day and ran off. Chesna later found him throwing rocks at a home in Weymouth and confronted him. That's when prosecutors said Lopes threw a rock the size of half a basketball at Chesna's head, knocking him to the ground.
Prosecutor Greg Connor said Lopes then took the officer's gun and and "fired it eight times into his head and into his chest."
After shooting Chesna, Lopes allegedly shot at two responding officers, then fired three shots at 77-year-old Vera Adams as she stood by her window, watching him run away. Connor said Lopes was deliberately trying to kill a witness.
Lopes's defense attorney Larry Tipton said his client has struggled with mental illness for years and it was made worse by chronic marijuana use. Tipton said Lopes had harmed himself and was hospitalized frequently, with no evidence that he was faking it.
"We just met with the (Chesna) family, their resolve is stronger than ever and we're confident we'll get a positive outcome in January," Weymouth Police Chief Richard Fuller told WBZ-TV Friday.
