Kidnapping Trial Underway For Former Dedham Police Officer

DEDHAM, MA — A former Dedham police officer stood trial Tuesday on charges connected to a 2014 kidnapping, which led to the death of an Avon man. Michael Schoener was charged with being an accessory before the fact in a kidnapping.

In late 2013, Schoener let his drug dealer, James Feeney, borrow his police badge, gun holster, and handcuffs, which Schoener's defense team admitted to in their opening statement, the Brockton Enterprise reported.

Then in January 2014, Feeney gave the police gear to Scott Morrison and Alfred Ricci, who police said stormed the home of James Robertson, 37, of Avon, posing as police officers. According to police Morrison and Ricci told Robertson he was being taken in for a random drug test. But in reality, the men took Robertson to Feeney to be beaten to death, a crime both Feeney and Morrison have been convicted for. Ricci, testified as a cooperating witness in exchange for an eight-year sentence.

Despite admitting to lending the police gear to Feeney, Schoener's defense attorney John Gibbons argued there's no proof Schoener knew about the crime Feeney committed beforehand.

“They must prove beyond a reasonable doubt, to a moral certainty, that Mr. Schoener knew that Mr. Feeney was going to commit a kidnapping," Gibbons said in court.

Schoener faces a potential 10-year prison sentence if convicted.

For more on this story, check out the Brockton Enterprise