Defense lawyers for Angelo Colon-Ortiz, accused of the 2016 killing of Vanessa Marcotte, challenged the competency and communication skills of police officers who collected his DNA sample.
In absence of a proficient translator, police relied on an incomprehensible consent form to convey rights and information when collecting the DNA of Angelo Colon-Ortiz, argued defense attorneys.
WORCESTER – A suppression hearing for Angelo Colon-Ortiz, the man charged in the killing of Vanessa Marcotte in 2016, will be held Wednesday and Thursday in Worcester Superior Court.
Colon-Ortiz, who pleaded not guilty, is asking that DNA evidence linking him to the crime be thrown out, alleging that the circumstances of his DNA collection by police in March 2017 were unlawful.
Marcotte, 27, was visiting her mother in Princeton when she went missing during a jog Aug. 7, 2016. Her body, partially burnt and unclothed, was found hours later in the woods off Brooks Station Road. Authorities said Colon-Ortiz s DNA matched DNA found under the victim s fingernails. He was arrested in April 2017, initially charged with aggravated assault and battery and assault with intent to rape.
FITCHBURG - A Fitchburg man was arraigned on multiple child rape charges Friday in Worcester Superior Court.
Ronald Walsh, 30, pleaded not guilty to two counts of child rape aggravated by 10-year age difference and one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under age 14.
Walsh, listed in court papers as living at 133 Charles St., was released on the same $5,000 cash bail he recently posted in Fitchburg District Court.
Conditions of his bail include that he stay confined to his home, wear a GPS monitoring device, have no contact with the alleged victim and have no unsupervised contact with children under age 16.