BOSTON (AP) - The Massachusetts Appeals Court, citing improper conduct by the prosecution, has granted a new trial to a man convicted of killing another man in an unprovoked attack in a Quincy bar.
Paul Fahey was convicted of second-degree murder in 2017 for allegedly punching and stomping on the head of Keith Boudreau in the now-closed Home Ice Sports Bar in March 2015. Boudreau, 42, died days later at the hospital.
The court in its decision Monday called the prosecutor’s missteps “pervasive” and in many instances “egregious.”
“We agree with the defendant that a new trial is warranted based on the cumulative effect of the prosecutor’s improper cross-examination and inflammatory closing argument,” Milkey said in the decision.
The prosecutor called Fahey a “bully” 13 times during closing arguments.
The court said “it is improper for a prosecutor to use insulting names designed to evoke an emotional, rather than a rational, response from jurors.”
Fahey’s lawyer, Barbara Munro, praised the decision.
“The prosecutor’s conduct was pretty egregious and the Appeals Court agreed,” Munro told The Patriot Ledger.
The Norfolk District Attorney’s office plans to retry the case.
“We recognize that errors were made, as the court pointed out,” the district attorney’s statement said. “We are disappointed for the family.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.