Somerville Murder Case Revisited: Defense Claims Cover-Up

WOBURN, MA—James J. Rodwell is mounting his seventh attempt at appeal after being convicted of a Somerville murder in 1981.

This time, Rodwell’s attorney Veronica White is suggesting a cover-up by law enforcement after portions of Rodwell’s case files went missing, according to a report by the Lowell Sun. Rodwell has spent 34 years in jail after being convicted in the murder case of the son of a then-Burlington police captain in Somerville in 1978.

Lisa Redmond, who broke the story for The Lowell Sun reports:

In Middlesex Superior Court this week, defense attorney Veronica White, representing Rodwell, told Judge Thomas Billings that in lieu of the Middlesex district attorney’s missing files, she should have access to files the prosecutor and detective kept to mount an appeal for a new trial.

But the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office objected, saying those files are protected as a “work product.” Rodwell’s appeals for a new trial have been rejected at least six times.

White suggested that law enforcement, prosecutors and the Drug Enforcement Agency protected David Nagle, a jailhouse snitch, who was also a paid DEA informant, giving him a reduced sentence in exchange for testimony against Rodwell.

During Rodwell’s 1981 trial for the Dec. 3, 1978, murder of Louis Rose Jr. in Somerville, Nagle testified that while he and Rodwell were being held at the House of Correction in Billerica -- Rodwell awaiting trial for murder and Nagle for a series of armed robberies -- Rodwell bragged about the murder.

The defense argues that prosecutors hid information about Nagle’s criminal record and alleged status as a paid government informant among other damaging information, according to the report.