Published: 10/25/2007
Judge denies effort to toss 'Warrior Brothers' statements By Julie Manganis Staff writer
BEVERLY - A judge has denied motions to toss out incriminating statements made to police by three men charged in connection with two violent robberies last year in Beverly.
One of the three men, Paul Cucinelli, had claimed that he confessed only because he was from Brazil, where he said suspects routinely confess to avoid a beating by police, then hire lawyers to get the confession thrown out later on.
Salem Superior Court Judge David Lowy said he found Cucinelli, 21, "not credible."
Cucinelli of Salem, Timothy Share, 20, and Thomas Gross, 20, both of Beverly, were members of a self-styled street gang who called themselves the Warrior Brothers. Police have said the violent robberies - of a Montserrat College of Art student on Sept. 12, 2006, and of a shift worker at the Cummings Center on Sept. 15, 2006 - were part of an initiation rite. The shift worker nearly died after being beaten.
On the afternoon of Sept. 16, state police Trooper Paul O'Neil, who had become involved in the case when police feared the second victim might die, spotted a Toyota Corolla believed to be at the Cummings Center at the time of the assault traveling over the Veterans Memorial Bridge and pulled it over. Cucinelli and a female passenger, Jamie DeAlmeida, were arrested on warrants from unrelated cases. Share, who was also in the car, was also brought to the station along with two other passengers.
Police conducted an initial "inventory" of the car and found a baseball bat in the trunk. They would later get a search warrant and seize the bat and other items.
Meanwhile, police questioned Cucinelli and Share and spoke with Gross the following day.
Cucinelli, who confessed to playing a role in both robberies, testified in August that he did not understand what he was doing because of limited English skills and a lack of understanding about the American justice system. He also claimed that police ignored his requests to call his mother. Proficient in English
Lowy, however, listened to Cucinelli's taped confession, as well as a series of phone calls between Cucinelli and his American-born girlfriend, and found that he is "quite proficient in speaking and understanding English." Further, the judge said Cucinelli had dealt with police before and understood how the police and the court systems work.
The judge also found that Share, who had argued that he was questioned without being advised of his rights, was in fact read those rights before each of the three interviews he gave police.
While Share's father appeared at the police station, Share did not ask for legal counsel.
The following day's interview with Gross, similarly, was properly conducted, the judge found, rejecting Gross' claim that he was still under the influence of alcohol and marijuana he had consumed the night before.
The judge said he believes that all of the defendants' statements to police were made after each voluntarily waived his rights, so the statements can be used against them in court. A trial will probably be scheduled for early next year.
Cucinelli's lawyer, Lawrence McGuire, objected to the judge's decision and raised the issue of O'Neil's use of Cucinelli's ethnicity in the interrogation.
The trooper at one point told Cucinelli that a true man in Brazil would take responsibility for his actions and questioned his masculinity, McGuire said, adding that stereotyping or baiting of a suspect is impermissible.
Lowy, who had listened to the taped confession while driving home, said that he was immediately struck by the line of questioning and found it "bothersome."
"I don't believe it's the type of reference that should be utilized," the judge said, But he also said that in weighing the totality of the case, it did not change his opinion.
McGuire, a public defender appointed to represent Cucinelli, is planning to seek funds to hire an expert on false confessions.
Lowy read his decision yesterday afternoon, concluding a hearing that started in May.
A fourth suspect, Sean Caldwell, 25, is hospitalized at Bridgewater State Hospital. He was not part of the motion.
The charges against two other suspects, DeAlmeida and Thomas Roys, have been dropped.
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