I-Team: Clerk Reassigned After Guns Vanish From Chelsea Court
CHELSEA (CBS) - Prosecutors lay out the evidence in a criminal case in Chelsea District Court as the court finds itself in the spotlight of an investigation after some key evidence in other cases goes missing. The I-Team has learned three guns have disappeared from the evidence locker inside the clerk's office in Chelsea. They're believed to be stolen and back on the street.
The clerk magistrate, Kevin Murphy, has been reassigned to Salem District Court while and internal audit gets underway next week.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington has been practicing law for decades. He says, "In all the years I've been practicing criminal law it's incredible the way the clerk's office handles such a volume of evidence and I'm not aware of any instance where evidence has been lost."
WBZ-TV's Kathy Curran reports
Not only lost but stolen and probably in the wrong hands. There's the concern about the guns being used to commit crimes and also the impact on one case that hasn't gone to trial yet. Reddington adds, "Prosecutors are probably thinking it's bad enough not to have a smoking gun but when you have no gun at all you're in trouble, I'm sure they're quite upset."
But the Suffolk County District Attorney believes the case will be tried successfully. They have pictures of the gun and ballistics to depend on. They may win one case but they'll most likely be faced with several more because of the three guns that were stolen from the court.
The State Police are investigating. Clerk magistrate Kevin Murphy is reassigned for 60 days or until the investigation is complete.
