Massachusetts man sentenced to consecutive life sentences for killing police officer, bystander

BOSTON — A Massachusetts man was sentenced Wednesday to consecutive life sentences for killing a police officer and a bystander, following emotional testimony from his family and colleagues about the pain caused by the killings.

Emanuel Lopes, now 26, was fleeing the scene of a minor car accident on July 15, 2018, when prosecutors said he threw a large rock at the head of the investigator, Sergeant Michael Chesna, 42.

The rock knocked Chesna to the ground, unconscious, and then Lopes grabbed the officer’s gun and shot him multiple times, they said. He then fled, shooting Vera Adams, 77, who was on her porch as he tried to escape, prosecutors said.

At the time of his arrest, Chesna’s service weapon was out of ammunition, authorities said.

Lopes was convicted earlier this year on multiple counts, including murder. The sentences handed down Wednesday mean Lopes could be eligible for parole in 40 years, less than the 55 years prosecutors had sought.

This was Lopes’ second trial after Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial last year when the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict. The new jury also sent notes to Cannone saying it had been unable to reach a decision, but the judge ordered the jurors to continue deliberating.

At the second trial, prosecutor Greg Connor portrayed Lopes as a calculating killer and sought guilty verdicts on 11 counts.

The defense argued that Lopes, who had no criminal record, was not criminally responsible because he had a long history of mental illness and was in a “state of oblivion” on the day of the killings.

Lopes addressed the court before his sentencing, apologizing to both families and the Weymouth Police Department. “I’m truly sorry. This should never have happened,” he said.

Two Weymouth officers who responded that day, both now retired, recalled the heartbreak of not being able to save Chesna and how the murder had ruined so many lives.

“The image of the defendant standing over Mike and shooting him multiple times is forever etched in my mind, and the flashbacks I experienced daily are something no one should ever have to endure,” Nicholas Marini told the court.

“Those horrible memories consumed me and continued to haunt my dreams even six years later,” Marini continued. “I was forever changed as a husband, father and friend.”

Chesna’s widow, Cindy, read letters from her two children who told her they missed their father and spoke of how she struggled to rebuild their lives after the death of someone she described as a hero, her protector and “a beautiful person inside and out.”

“They will always live with a grief I cannot ease and a pain I cannot heal,” Chesna said, standing in front of several family photos. “But I can ask the court to give them the only thing I can give them: the comfort of knowing that the monster who murdered their father will never be free.”

Lopes’ attorney, Larry Tipton, asked that his client’s mental illness be taken into account in his request for a lesser sentence — 25 years for Chesna’s murder and 15 years for Adams’ — to be served concurrently. He said his request was not intended to “degrade or harm the honest personal beliefs and feelings of the family and victims.”