SALEM — The trial of a former police officer charged with raping an intoxicated man in protective custody inside a police station closet has started.
Jury selection in the trial of 57-year-old Brian Butler, who is married to Salem’s police chief, continued Wednesday.
Butler has pleaded not guilty to rape and indecent assault and battery. His lawyer says the encounter was consensual.
The alleged assault occurred Oct. 31, 2016, at the Salem police station and was reported several days later. Prosecutors say the man in his 20s, had been visiting the city for Halloween and told investigators he felt compelled to go along with Butler.
Butler resigned following his arrest. He is married to Salem police Chief Mary Butler, who has filed for divorce.
EAST WINDSOR, Conn. — A proposed casino that would be run jointly by Connecticut’s federally recognized Native American tribes to compete with a nearby casino in Massachusetts has won a key local permit.
East Windsor’s planning and zoning commission on Tuesday unanimously granted a zoning permit for the development proposed by MMCT Venture LLC, a partnership of the tribal operators of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun.
The new casino would be about 15 miles from an MGM Resorts casino scheduled to open this summer in Springfield, Massachusetts. MGM has been fighting the East Windsor proposal, calling the state legislation an “unconstitutional no-bid scheme.”
BOSTON — A federal jury has awarded $18.4 million in damages to a man who said in a lawsuit that two doctors failed to test him for HIV, which allowed the virus to progress to AIDS.
The jury ruled Monday in favor of 48-year-old Sean Stentiford in his medical malpractice lawsuit against internist Stephen Southard and neurologist Kinan Hreib.
Stentiford said he consented to an HIV test in 2007 because he was experiencing facial paralysis. The suit says Hreib canceled the test because he felt Stentiford had no risk of HIV.
Stentiford’s lawyer says his client should have been tested because he is gay and was exposed to bodily fluids while working as a paramedic.
SPRINGFIELD — A second person has pleaded guilty to his role in the killing of a teenager during a botched drug deal.
Charles Sierra, 18, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Hampden Superior Court to second-degree murder and other charges in the 2016 shooting of 20-year-old Jeffrey Freitas in Springfield.
Sierra was sentenced him to life in prison, with eligibility for parole after 15 years.
Prosecutors say Sierra and two others participated in a plan to buy marijuana from Freitas, who was shot in the head in his car and left for dead.
Sierra’s lawyer said there was no intent to kill.
BOSTON — Prosecutors say a man charged with trying to abduct a woman jogging along a Bridgewater street last weekend has previously been convicted of rape.
Not guilty pleas to charges including kidnapping were entered on behalf of 57-year-old Gordon Lyons Jr. at his arraignment Tuesday. Police say he stopped his vehicle and tried to abduct the 37-year-old woman Sunday in Bridgewater.
The woman, whose name has not been released, fought back and a neighbor came to her aid.
Prosecutors say Lyons sped off and crashed a few miles away. He was arraigned in the hospital.
Lyons’ lawyer asked for a psychiatric evaluation, saying she has “concerns about his competency.”
Prosecutor say Lyons was convicted of rape in 1978.
From Associated Press