Wednesday, March 6, 2013
The jury deliberated for about six hours today without reaching a verdict.
Jurors in the Nathaniel Fujita trial failed to reach a verdict during their first full day of deliberations. Fujita will wait another day to learn whether the jury believes him to be guilty of first- or second-degree murder or whether it believes, as the defense argued, that he experienced a brief psychotic episode at the time of the killing. The jury agreed to retire for the day at 3:30 p.m. after beginning deliberations at about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. Judge Peter Lauriat told them he expects their deliberations to resume at 9 a.m. Thursday. If convicted of first-degree murder, Fujita faces an automatic sentence of life without the possibility of parole. A second-degree murder conviction carries an automatic sentence of life with the …
Today marks the 17th day in the trial of Nathaniel Fujita, the Wayland man accused of killing 18-year-old Lauren Astley in 2011.
Three weeks ago I listened and typed feverishly as Prosecutor Lisa McGovern and defense attorney William Sullivan laid out for jurors their unique perspectives on the murder of Lauren Astley. I watched as McGovern described a brutal, purposeful murder and Sullivan told of a tragic mental breakdown. I saw the defendant, Nathaniel Fujita, sit quietly on the right side of the courtroom as 18 months of hearings and motions and planning culminated in his first-degree murder trial. For three weeks, a string of 33 witnesses walked up the center aisle of Courtroom 530 at Middlesex Superior Court; through an opening in a short, mahogany paneled partition; past the eyes of 16 jurors; and took a seat in the witness stand. Constant motion; constantly …
A first-degree murder conviction could be handed down in the Wayland murder case, says Northeastern University criminologist.
Was Nathaniel Fujita experiencing a brief psychotic episode when he killed Lauren Astley? While that question and the case as a whole is now in the hands of jurors to decide, a local criminologist says no; Fujita is criminally responsible. The 20-year old Wayland man faces murder and assault charges in the July 3, 2011, death of his ex-girlfriend, Lauren Astley. While the defense does not dispute Fujita strangled and stabbed Astley to death in the garage of his West Plain Street home, Fujita's lawyers say he was having a brief psychotic episode during the killing. If successful, such an insanity defense could lead to a verdict of not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. If he is deemed guilty, the jury will decide whether …
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Wayland man Nathaniel Fujita is facing first-degree murder charges arising from the death of Lauren Astley, also of Wayland, in 2011.
Editor's Note: Wayland Patch will post regular updates from the courtroom at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn. The most recent updates will be at the top of the story with a time stamp. For more about this case and trial, see "Wayland Murder: Nathaniel Fujita Trial." 4:10 p.m. -- The alternate jurors include one woman and two men. That means that the 12 deliberating jurors include four women and eight men. We are recessing for the day. The jury will reconvene tomorrow at 8:45 a.m. to continue deliberations. Patch will be back when a verdict comes in to live blog the reading of that verdict. 3:55 p.m. -- The jury left the courtroom at 3:50 p.m. The judge asked them to select a foreperson today while the attorneys and court officers …
Courtroom 530 at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn has been the setting of Nathaniel Fujita's murder trial for the past three weeks.
For the past three weeks, Courtroom 530 at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn has served as the setting for the murder trial that has consumed the thoughts of people throughout Wayland and well beyond that town. For three weeks, Nathaniel Fujita, now 20, has sat in Courtroom 530 as attorneys questioned more than 30 witnesses in his trial on first-degree murder and other charges arising from the death of Lauren Astley. Both Astley and Fujita were 18 years old when prosecutors say that Fujita, enraged because Astley had broken up with him, lured her to his family's Wayland garage where he strangled her and cut her throat on July 3, 2011. The prosecution has said Fujita's actions were both premeditated and purposeful, while the defense has …
Monday, March 4, 2013
Wayland man Nathaniel Fujita is facing first-degree murder charges arising from the death of Lauren Astley, also of Wayland, in 2011.
Editor's Note: Wayland Patch will post regular updates from the courtroom at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn. The most recent updates will be at the top of the story with a time stamp. For more about this case and trial, see "Wayland Murder: Nathaniel Fujita Trial." 1:11 p.m. -- We resumed at 11:28 a.m. with McGovern questioning Fife. Turning her attention to the autopsy photos, McGovern asked what significance Fife found, if any, in those photos. "My assessment of those wounds was that they were of a sadistic nature," Fife said. "Sadistic is when one intentionally inflicts harm over and above in a way that is intended to produce suffering." Fife also said she listened to recorded conversations involving Fujita, but before she could …
Numerous legal experts have weighed in on various aspects of the trial of Nathaniel Fujita, the now 20-year-old man accused of killing his 18-year-old former girlfriend, Lauren Astley, in 2011.
The trial of Nathaniel Fujita began on Feb. 11, 2013, with two days of jury selection. Since then, 11 days of testimony and a trip to visit scenes in Wayland have followed. And we're not quite finished yet. The cross-examination of the defense's mental health expert, Dr. Wade Myers, will continue Monday and Prosecutor Lisa McGovern is expected to call Dr. Alison Fife as her rebuttal mental health expert witness. The mental health witnesses have taken the stand because Fujita's attorney, William Sullivan, is pursuing a so-called insanity defense for his client. The defense asserts that, although Fujita committed the murder with which he is charged, he was suffering a "brief psychotic episode" at the time, as well as enduring a major …
Friday, March 1, 2013
Wayland man Nathaniel Fujita is facing first-degree murder charges arising from the death of Lauren Astley, also of Wayland, in 2011.
Editor's Note: Wayland Patch will post regular updates from the courtroom at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn. The most recent updates will be at the top of the story with a time stamp. For more about this case and trial, see "Wayland Murder: Nathaniel Fujita Trial." 1:04 p.m. -- Prosecutor Lisa McGovern began her cross examination at 11:46 a.m. McGovern asked Myers how many tests he gave Fujita on July 25, 2011, and he responded that he gave three that first meeting. Myers gave Fujita another test in November 2012. McGovern pressed Myers about reading grand jury transcripts prior to that first meeting with Fujita, which she implied he couldn't have done because the grand jury testimony had not yet occurred. McGovern pointed out that the…
The defense team for Nathaniel Fujita will continue to present its case today in an effort to show that Fujita was insane at the time he killed 18-year-old Lauren Astley.
The defense team for Nathaniel Fujita will continue presenting its case Friday in an effort to show jurors that Fujita suffered a brief psychotic episode when he killed 18-year-old Lauren Astley in July 2011. On Thursday, the Commonwealth, led by prosecutor Lisa McGovern, rested its case after calling a string of nearly 30 witnesses -- beginning with Wayland Police Officer Seanna Lombardo and concluding with Astley's mother, Mary Dunne -- to the stand since testimony began on Feb. 13. Following Dunne's testimony on Thursday, Feb. 28, defense attorney William Sullivan called Fujita's aunt, Joyce Saba, to the stand. She proved to be the only witness called by the defense that day and court adjourned about an hour earlier than normal. Judge …
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Nathaniel Fujita sobbed at the defendant's table as the mother of Lauren Astley, the woman he is accused of killing, testified in court Thursday.
The short testimony of Lauren Astley's mother proved emotional for the many people gathered in Courtroom 530 in Woburn on Thursday. As Mary Dunne told jurors about her daughter's petite frame -- 5 feet and just under 100 pounds -- quiet tears and the crinkling of people reaching for tissues could be heard throughout the room at Middlesex Superior Court. Dunne was the final witness called by the Commonwealth in the trial of Nathaniel Fujita, the man facing a first-degree murder charge arising from the July 3, 2011, death of Astley, his ex-girlfriend and fellow Wayland High School Class of 2011 graduate. Composed but with her voice cracking, Dunne identified a photo of Astley smiling and looking directly into the camera with her green eyes…
captaincrunchy
7:54 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2013
When a defense attorney asks you "How much are you being paid to testify?" The answer should be "definitely not as much as you are being paid". You gotta throw that right back in their face. Fife was woefully incompetent. more ›