High court overturns murder conviction of New York financier
The state’s highest court has overturned the conviction of a former New York bank executive who was charged with first-degree murder for fatally stabbing his estranged girlfriend in her Nantucket bungalow.
[fragment number=0]The Supreme Judicial Court ruled in the case of Thomas E. Toolan III, who was convicted in the death of Elizabeth Lochtefeld in 2004.
The court said that “flaws in the jury selection process require the reversal of his convictions.’’
The court said the defendant was denied his right to a fair trial because the lower court judge who presided over the trial failed in his obligation to ensure that jurors from the picturesque island community, which has about 11,000 year-round residents, were impartial.
The court ruled that “the circumstances were such that for any particular prospective juror, the risk of bias was high. Pretrial publicity was extensive, and it was at times prejudicial to the defendant’s anticipated theory of defense.’’
“In addition, in the small, socially interconnected community of Nantucket, in which many prospective jurors knew the victim, her family, or witnesses, the influence of mass media coverage overlapped with, and was reinforced by, informal interactions and conversations. Some prospective jurors had second-hand or even direct factual knowledge of the case prior to trial; others had developed opinions through conversations with family members, friends, and acquaintances,’’ the court said.
The court, in an opinion written by Justice Margot Botsford, said it was “ impossible to discern whether seated jurors held subtle biases against the defendant–biases that might have become apparent in individual questioning during empanelment on the sources of their knowledge of the case, and any opinions formed as a result. Accordingly, we reverse the defendant’s convictions and remand for a new trial.’’
Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said in a statement that he would retry Toolan, who was convicted in June 2007.
“Mr. Toolan will be returned to the Nantucket Superior Court after 28 days have elapsed to again stand trial for Ms. Lochtefeld’s murder,’’ he said.
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