Thomas J. Mortimer IV was arraigned today in Middlesex Superior Court, pleading not guilty and agreeing to be held without bail. I attended today’s court proceedings, which began at around 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom 440 at the Woburn office park that is the courthouse.
Clerk Magistrate Michael Sullivan presided over Mortimer’s arraignment. Two prosecutors, Adrienne Lynch and John McEvoy, represented the state, while defense attorney Denise Regan represented Mortimer. Many relatives and/or friends of the alleged victims sat in the front two rows, but surprisingly there were only a few reporters.
A court clerk read the indictment against Mortimer, charging that he “did assault and beat” and “by such assault and beating did kill and murder” his wife Laura Stone Mortimer (41), his mother-in-law Ragna E. Stone (64), his son Thomas Joseph David Mortimer V (4), and his daughter Charlotte Ellen Sandra Mortimer (2). Four times the clerk asked, “Mr. Mortimer, how do you plead to this indictment?” and four times he replied “not guilty.”
While all this happened, Mortimer was in a little room adjacent to the courtroom, but he could easily be seen and participate in the proceedings through an opening in the wall. His dark hair was shorter than at his district court arraignment, and he was wearing a light blue shirt and reddish-brown tie. His hands were handcuffed in front of him. Most of the time he somberly looked straight ahead and down, never glancing toward the gallery or his wife’s family members. As he pled not guilty, he spoke somewhat quietly and seemed a little nervous and hesitant at first. He didn’t show much emotion but was friendly and polite with his lawyer, nodding and smiling when she spoke privately to him.
After Mortimer pled, Lynch requested that he be held without bail because of the nature of the crimes and his alleged flight to Western Massachusetts, and she also revealed a few new facts about the alleged murders. According to Lynch, the deaths took place between 9:10 p.m. on June 14 and 7:10 a.m. on June 15. Mortimer allegedly composed a confession letter between 11:16 p.m. and 3:19 a.m., when he shut down his computer. The letter was found in digital form on the computer, as well as two printed copies.
At 7:10 a.m. on the 15th, Mortimer called his workplace and his son’s day care to say that neither of them would be in. Later he answered his wife’s phone when her sister, Debra Sochat, called and told her that Laura would not be able to call her back for a long time. At some point that day he threw his and Laura’s phones away at a gas station on route 113.
On June 16, the bodies were found during a well-being check of the home at 2 Windsong Land in Winchester. The next day, Mortimer’s car battery died and he was arrested in Bernardston.
Regan did not contest Lynch’s request for no bail, so that was the end of the arraignment. She patted Mortimer’s shoulder before he was led away by officers.
But that was not the end of today’s court proceedings. After the arraignment, at 11:00, a hearing was held on a defense motion to seal the statement of the case, a document filed by the prosecution to summarize the allegations. This took place in the same courtroom but before a different judge, Thomas Billings.
Regan argued that the statement of the case should be temporarily impounded until the next hearing, on September 9, to give her time to make a written argument for it to be impounded permanently. She said that the last five pages of the nine-page document were “inflammatory” and that their release would be unfair to Mortimer and “detrimental to his right to a fair trial.” She added that no rule of court requires a statement of the case. “It has no bearing on the legal proceedings in the court,” she said.
Lynch, on the other hand, argued that “the defendant can’t pick and choose which information the commonwealth can present to the court.” She pointed out that prosecutors are required to file a statement of the case at arraignment.
Judge Billings then asked if anyone in the gallery wanted to be heard, and reporters John Ellement of the Boston Globe and Laurel Sweet of the Boston Herald both stood up and argued against impounding the statement of the case, saying that releasing it is customary and would not taint the jury pool because the trial will likely not take place until at least a year from now.
But Regan argued that a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial should win out over the media’s First Amendment right to report on the case and the public’s right to the information. She was surprised, she said, at the length and detail of the statement that she was shown today.
Judge Billings decided to impound the statement of the case until the 9th. The defense bears a heavy burden to show that the statement should be sealed, he said, but he is willing to give Regan a chance.
So the next court date for this case will be Thursday, September 9, at 2:00 p.m. in courtroom 630.
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