Crime & Safety
State Supreme Judicial Court Upholds Hingham Double Murder Conviction
Tuesday, the Supreme Judicial Court upheld the murder conviction against James Winquist. He was charged in the murders of William Chrapan.

Hingham, MA — A conviction from a 2005 Hingham double murder case has been upheld by the state's highest court.
Tuesday, the Supreme Judicial Court upheld the murder conviction against James Winquist. He was charged in the murders of William Chrapan and David Lyon
Winquist argued that statements made by his former co-defendant Eric Snow about "earning your bones" was hearsay and should not have been admitted as evidence in his trial, according to the Patriot Ledger. Hearsay is usually not used as evidence, but a judge in the trial allowed for the statements to be used under an exemption.
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Last year, the state’s appeals court rejected an appeal from Winquist.
In 2005, Winquist and Snow beat Chrapan and Lyon to death and placed the bodies in an abandoned bunker in Bare Cove Park. The two, who were part of a small neo-Nazi group called the “Brotherhood of Blood,” killed the men as part of an initiation into the group.
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After being convicted of the murders, Winquist was sentenced to life in prison.
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