Court video: Emmanuel Lopes, killer of Weymouth sergeant and innocent bystander, learns his fate

DEDHAM, Mass. — BREAKING UPDATE: The man who fatally shot a Weymouth Police Department sergeant and an innocent bystander was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday, six years after their murders.

Watch the entirety of the sentencing hearing, including victim impact statements, below:

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Emanuel Lopes was convicted in February of first-degree murder in the death of 42-year-old Sgt. Michael Chesna, a military veteran and married father of two, and second-degree murder in the killing of innocent bystander Vera Adams, a 77-year-old widow.

Sentencing was delayed multiple times because Lopes’ attorneys were seeking parole, arguing that he was just 20 years old when the crimes were committed. The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that anyone under 21 years of age at the time of crime can’t be sentenced to life without parole.

Prosecutors say Lopes was fleeing the scene of a minor car crash in July 2018 and Chesna was investigating.

Police say Lopes threw a large rock at Chesna’s head, knocking him to the ground unconscious, then grabbed the officer’s gun and shot him multiple times. As he fled, investigators say Lopes shot Adams, who was on her porch.

When he was caught, Chesna’s service weapon was out of ammunition, according to authorities.

Lopes was convicted after a second trial because Judge Beverly Cannone declared the first a mistrial when one juror refused to deliberate.

Cannone later presided over the high-profile murder trial of Karen Read, which also ended in a mistrial on July 1.

The defense for Lopes, who prosecutors repeatedly described as a cold-blooded murderer, had been mounting an insanity defense to get him acquitted in the deaths of Chesna and Adams.

“It was like a weight got lifted right off my shoulders,” Cindy Chesna, Sgt. Chesna’s wife, described on the courthouse steps after Lopes was convicted. “I’m just so happy my kids don’t have to have me taken away from them for another trial, they can have me home with them. I’m going to tell them that their father got the justice he finally deserved and Vera did, too and that he’s not coming back to get anybody.”

Lopes’ sentencing is slated to begin at 10 a.m. Boston 25 News will stream the court proceeding live.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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