Thursday, March 7, 2013
A jury of 12 men and women deliberated for a little more than seven hours before reaching a guilty verdict.
Nathaniel Fujita stood stoically with his head hung down as the jury foreman read the verdict Thursday morning. "Guilty" of first-degree murder. Behind the defendant, his mother, Beth Fujita, began to weep. But tears flowed from the left side of the courtroom as well, as the parents of Lauren Astley, the 18-year-old woman Fujita murdered in July 2011, learned that he would be held accountable for taking their daughter's life. As the verdict was read, Prosecutor Lisa McGovern turned to Astley's parents and met their eyes. In the state of Massachusetts, Fujita now faces an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The foreman then read the verdicts for the other three charges Fujita faced: Judge Peter Lauriat …
Wayland man Nathaniel Fujita has been convicted of first-degree murder in 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." 12:29 p.m. -- Judge Peter Lauriat said he has received three victims' statements: Malcolm Astley, Mary Dunne and Roy Astley. Malcolm Astley is now speaking to the court. "I want to thank the court ... for diligence toward justice in this situation," Astley began. "We need to acknowledge the death, the absence and the taking of life of Lauren Astley," her father said. "We need to acknowledge all the pain, fear and distrust that resulted from the loss of her life ... it has to…
Jurors have spent about six hours so far deliberating a verdict iin the trial of a Wayland man accused of killing 18-year-old Lauren Astley.
Jurors this morning will return to the task of deliberating a verdict in the trial of Nathaniel Fujita, the now 20-year-old Wayland man accused of murdering 18-year-old Lauren Astley in July 2011. The jury has the option of finding Fujita guilty of first- or second-degree murder, not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, or not guilty of the crimes at all, according to instructions issued by Judge Peter Lauriat. The decision was put in the hands of jurors at about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. That day, the panel of eight men and four women elected a foreperson, but disbanded for the day just 15 minutes later. Wednesday, the jurors retired to deliberate at about 9:30 a.m. and informed Lauriat at 3:30 p.m. that they were ready…
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
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 …
David Stallard
11:01 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
Murders in Wayland are in indeed so rare that it doesn't really have a murder "rate", properly speaking. Setting aside the Sarah Pryor case, which presumably was an abduction by an out-of-town stranger, I know of only 3 murders in Wayland in the past 50 years. There was the Thompson-Dupuis juvenile murder case in 1966/7. There was a killing of an elderly woman in the Dudley Pond cottage back in … more ›