Tag: US

On April 13, 2020, the prosecution filed a non-opposition to the motion and moved for an expedited evidentiary hearing. The court granted the motion to stay Frances’s sentence the same day and she was released nearly 17 years after she was first arrested on the day of the fire.

On September 8, 2020, the prosecution conceded that defense motion should be granted. The prosecution agreed that the racist and sexist emails were “reprehensible” and that the prosecution had engaged in misconduct. The prosecution said trial prosecutor Bradley had been terminated in 2013 and O’Sullivan left the office voluntarily prior to 2015. In addition, the appellate prosecutor who was assigned to handle the post-conviction requests from the defense for the emails, Gail McKenna, was terminated for withholding the information and for failing to obey court orders to disclose the information.

The prosecution also informed Frances’s lawyers that it had discovered Detective Clark’s file. The file contained his handwritten and typed notes regarding the interrogation—notes that Clark had falsely testified he had destroyed. These notes contained information that was inconsistent with Clark’s testimony. In addition, Clark’s file included previously undisclosed Brockton Police reports showing that Jimmy Choy had reported to police that Kenneth was dealing drugs and had run away from home, evidence of another possible motive for him to commit the crime.