Boston Man's Lawsuit Against Braintree Police Moves Forward

BRAINTREE, MA — A lawsuit against Braintree and Boston police officers accusing them of framing a man for a 1980 murder will move forward after a federal judge on Friday denied a request to dismiss the suit.

Judge Indira Talwaini of the U.S District Court for Boston issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed by Frederick Weichel of Boston, who spent 36 years in prison after being convicted in the May 1980 fatal shooting of Robert La Monica on Commercial Street in Braintree.

Talwaini allowed four of the five counts of the lawsuit to move forward and dismissed the fifth, according to court documents. Talwaini dismissed one count in the lawsuit, a failure to intervene. The court will instead focus on claims Weichel was denied due process, underwent malicious federal prosecution, was deprived of his constitutional rights and underwent intentional infliction of emotional distress, according to the ruling.

Braintree town officials did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

Weichel was released on bond in 2017 after a judge threw out his conviction and ordered a new trial. The Norfolk County District Attorney's Office in 2017 opted not to seek a new trial, citing a lack of evidence against Weichel.

Weichel's lawsuit named as defendants the town of Braintree, its police department, deceased former police Chief John Polio and several Braintree police officers, as well as several Boston and Massachusetts State Police officers. The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages and a trial to address his claims that his rights were violated, attorney Mark Loevy-Reyes said.

"We're going to seek whatever a jury will find 36 years of imprisonment was worth," Loevy-Reyes said.

Weichel's attorneys said the Braintree Police Department withheld evidence that could have led to him being declared not guilty, and instead allowed a file with information about the investigation to sit in a basement for more than 30 years. Weichel made repeated requests for the police records while turning down offers for leniency as he maintained his innocence.

The lawsuit alleged that the defendants fabricated evidence against him to quickly solve the crime and fabricated a false witness to identify him. Four witnesses saw a man fleeing the shooting from 60 yards away and only saw the man for a few seconds, according to the complaint.

Officers testified that all four witnesses identified Weichel as being the man they saw leave the scene, when in reality, none of the witnesses were able to identify who they had seen, according to the suit.

Eleven witnesses told police officials they believed the man portrayed in a composite sketch was a convicted murderer who had not returned to prison following a work furlough, the suit said. Descriptions of the man's height and weight also matched that of the felon, but the lawsuit alleged that investigators suppressed their report.

The lawsuit also alleged that several witnesses said that Weichel was in Boston at the time of the shooting, which took place around midnight.

At the time of the crime, Weichel was 28 and held a degree in psychology from the University of Massachusetts. According to a news release from his attorneys, Weichel was assaulted numerous times during his 36 years in prison.