AUGUSTA (AP) – One of two Augusta men charged in the fatal shooting of Franco-American singer Jean-Paul Poulain in his Augusta apartment has been found mentally competent to stand trial.
Shortly after the April 24 shooting, 22-year-old Mathiew Loisel was found not competent to assist in his own defense and was sent to Riverview Psychiatric Center.
Loisel has been charged with murder and robbery. A second defendant, 18-year-old Corey Swift, faces a charge of felony murder.
The competency ruling in Kennebec County Superior Court cleared the way for a hearing on pretrial motions.
Boston policeman pleads guilty
BOSTON (AP) – A suspended Boston police officer has pleaded guilty to federal charges of distributing anabolic steroids, committing perjury and obstructing justice in a federal grand jury probe of police corruption.
Investigators say 37-year-old Edgardo Rodriguez of Hyde Park was involved in distributing steroids on several occasions last year and in 2003.
He was also charged with making false statements to a grand jury when asked if he knew about other Boston Police officers involved in trafficking steroids.
Rodriguez faces up to 5 years in prison on the drug and conspiracy charges and 10 years in prison on the obstruction of justice charge.
Sentencing is set for Feb. 12.
Toddler improving after lip bitten off
LOWELL, Mass. (AP) – A Lowell toddler whose lip was allegedly bitten off by a 26-year-old man is improving after the attack.
Thy Chan of Lowell is accused of biting the boy’s lip off at an apartment unit in Lowell on Saturday. Police say other adults in the apartment reported Chan had been acting erratically.
During an arraignment held in a Lowell hospital room where Chan is under police guard, a judge ordered him held on $25,000 bail.
He’s charged with mayhem, assault and battery on a child and domestic assault and battery.
The child was taken to Children’s Hospital in Boston. Lowell police say his condition was improving, and efforts to reattach the lip were initially successful.
Man held in fatal DUI accident
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) – A man who lost his driver’s license for life after his third drunken driving conviction pleaded not guilty Monday to a fourth DUI charge for an Interstate 89 crash that killed a passenger in another vehicle.
Shawn Burritt, 32, of Jericho didn’t say anything during his appearance in Vermont District Court. He was ordered held without bail.
Friends and family of victim Nicholas Fournier, 18, attended the hearing.
Police say Burritt drove southbound in the northbound lane of Interstate 89 and collided with a Volvo carrying five young men early Saturday.
Fournier was a back seat passenger in the car. A police affidavit said most of the damage to the vehicle was on the rear passenger-side door, where Fournier had been sitting.
Finnerty said the driver of the northbound car carrying Fournier, Cole Johnson, 18, of Enosburg, did his best to avoid the collision by turning left into the median, while the southbound Burritt turned right at about the same time.
“They had a designated driver. There’s no allegation or evidence to support the operator of the Volvo was in any way impaired,” said Finnerty.
Court documents say that after the crash Burritt left the scene and was captured moments later by Winooski police in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant. Burritt later gave police a blood sample, but the results were not available Monday, although he told police he had consumed eight or nine beers at a Colchester bar, the documents said.
Burritt is charged with a fourth offense drunk driving death resulting, gross negligent operation of a motor vehicle death resulting, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, operating while under suspension and violating the conditions of his earlier release.
Each of the first three charges carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
Burritt has a long history of driving while intoxicated. Court documents said he was convicted of DUI in 1996, 1998 and 2006. After the 2006 conviction his license was suspended for life.
Burritt’s most recent court appearance came in August when he was arrested in Franklin County for driving with a suspended license. One of his conditions of release in that case was that he not drive.
Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan said he didn’t know why Burritt wasn’t sent to jail after the August case.
“This whole system is based on incentives and sanctions,” said Donovan. “When you violate your probation, when you violate your parole, your furlough, you should be brought back in to jail. That is a necessary and required sanction.”
Corrections Commissioner Rob Hofmann said Monday that earlier this year Burritt had successfully completed an intensive substance abuse program.
“He maintained regular appointments with his probation officer. He did not have driving privileges. He was employed,” Hofmann said. “All indications are that the parole officer handled the case appropriately.”
Fournier graduated last spring from Missisquoi Valley Union High School in Swanton. He was a standout athlete who ran cross-country and played baseball and basketball.
At the time of his death Fournier was working as an apprentice plumber and hoping to get an associate’s degree and master plumber’s license.
“If you’d never met him and you were part of something he was a part of, you’d remember him,” said Principal Chaunce Benedict. “He was that kind of person. He had a warmth. He was outgoing, funny, had a great sense of humor. He really connected with people.”
AP-ES-11-19-07 1650EST
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