BRENDON CAMARA - 4 yo (2003) - Fall River MA

FALL RIVER —


A new trial is set to start Monday in the case against Eric Durand, a
Swansea man charged with fatally beating his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son
in 2003.

Already, the retrial has reignited tensions that surrounded the case
when it was first in Superior Court in New Bedford in 2006. Jason
Camara, the father of the boy, was charged with criminal contempt on
Friday for entering the courtroom during jury selection and returning to
the court after a judge ordered him to leave.





Camara was held on $2,000 bail, and if bail is posted, he will not be
able to leave his Fall River home and will be monitored with a GPS
bracelet. His brother Harley Camara said he would look for people to
help post bail. Harley Camara was arrested for trying to attack Durand
during his arraignment in 2003,

Jason Camara was part of a group protesting outside the Fall River
Justice Center early Friday morning that police asked to disperse.
Camara returned and entered the courtroom where jury selection was
taking place, prosecutors said. Judge Robert Kane ordered Camara to
leave the building and the immediate area so he wouldn’t come in contact
with jurors, but Camara returned again around 10 a.m.

Camara also told First Assistant District Attorney William McCauley,
who is in charge of the Durand case, he “would do whatever he wants,”
prosecutors said.

Harley Camara said after his brother’s arraignment Friday afternoon
that Durand “shouldn’t even be trying to get out” on the murder charges.
A pretrial hearing for Jason Camara is set for Sept. 2.

Durand was found guilty of first-degree murder in November 2006, but
the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reversed that ruling last year,
saying a doctor shouldn’t have been allowed to be an expert witness in
the case because he didn’t perform an autopsy on the child.

The case was sent back to Superior Court, where jurors were chosen on
Thursday and Friday. The trial is expected to start Monday at around
11:30 a.m.

“Eric Durand is not getting away with this,” Harley Camara said. “If he gets out, I’ll make sure he pays,” he added later.

Jury selection for the case proved difficult, with 11 jurors — 8 women
and 3 men — chosen on Friday, with four others needed. Defense attorney
Timothy Bradl contested many of the selections and suggested that Kane
was “very heavily oriented toward females” on the jury panel. Kane
brushed off the complaint, attributing the uneven number to the pool of
potential jurors, which was two-thirds women.

Bradl objected when Kane allowed a woman to serve after saying she
worked with kids. “I think you’re inviting the answer you want to hear,”
he said of the judge’s questions for the woman. One man whose brother
was murdered was first allowed to serve, with Kane calling him “a man of
uncommon strength” when Bradl questioned whether the man could serve
objectively. Kane eventually changed his mind.

As the jury selection continued and many were passed over, including
one woman whose husband is a police officer, Kane seemed eager for
potential jurors to serve. “We need a jury,” he said.

One young woman, a college junior, said she needed to return to school on
Aug. 23, three days before the trial is scheduled to end. “I think you
could do this,” Kane told her, saying it would be a learning experience.
She agreed to serve.

Durand was charged with killing Brendon Camara by crushing his stomach
so hard that a portion of his small intestine detached from his stomach
and his pancreas split in half, according to prosecutors. Durand was
baby sitting Camara and his twin brother for their mother, his
girlfriend at the time.



Read more: http://www.heraldnews.com/archive/x1837736637/Eric-Durand-accused-of-2003-child-murder-faces-new-trial-Monday#ixzz1UsGKtAj6

Eric Durand's lawyers to seek third trial, reduced verdict



Posted Aug 30, 2011 @ 09:20 PM

Lawyers for Eric Durand will file motions for a third trial.
They will also ask Superior Court Judge Robert Kane to reduce the verdict against Durand from murder to manslaughter.

Durand, 31, of Swansea, was found guilty Monday of first degree murder for the Oct. 20, 2003 death of Brendon Camara, age four, of Somerset.

A jury found Durand guilty on Monday after nine days of testimony. Durand was convicted of the murder in 2006, but that conviction was overturned on appeal and a new trial was ordered.

Gary Pelletier was the defense lawyer who prepared and argued the appeal that resulted in the new trial for Durand. He was co-counsel during the second trial with lawyer Timothy Bradl.

“We will be filing a motion for a new trial,” Pelletier said Tuesday. “We feel there are a number of legal issues raised during the trial that provide grounds for appeal.”

The lawyers will also ask the judge to reduce the jury finding from first degree murder to manslaughter.

Brendon Camara, 4, died on Oct. 20, 2003 of massive internal injuries from a blow to the stomach.

He was at home that morning with his twin brother, Michael, Durand and a woman who lived in the home and sometimes provided daycare.

Durand was dating Laura Bowden, the mother of the twin boys. He had spent the night and was caring for the boys on the morning Brendon died. Bowden was at work at the time.

Dr. Abraham Philip, the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Brendon, testified that the boy died of a single, powerful blow to the stomach. Prosecutors William McCauley and Marnie Peck argued that Durand delivered the blow. The jury agreed.

The conviction of first degree murder required the jury to conclude that Durand had the intention of killing Brendon when he punched him.

A conviction of manslaughter would mean the jury believed Durand punched the boy but did not do so with the intention of killing him.

A change in the verdict would mean a huge difference in the sentence Durand will face. A conviction of first degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole. A conviction of manslaughter carries a sentence of up to 20 years.

Kane will consider the motions when he sentences Durand. That sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled, but will be held in the next two weeks.

Durand is being held in custody while awaiting sentencing.

Read more: http://www.heraldnews.com/archive/x549428256/Eric-Durands-lawyers-to-seek-third-trial-reduced-verdict#ixzz1Wea6vBdl

Eric Durand, convicted of child murder at retrial, to be sentenced Sept. 9

Read more: http://www.heraldnews.com/archive/x1638740835/Eric-Durand-convicted-of-child-murder-at-retrial-to-be-sentenced-Sept-9#ixzz1XHG7YXNk

Eric Durand given life in prison for murder of 4-year-old boy

Eric Durand was sentenced to life in prison Friday without the possibility of parole for the murder of 4-year-old Brendon Camara.

Superior Court Judge Robert Kane rejected the request by defense lawyers to vacate or reduce the verdict reached by a jury on Aug. 29. That verdict was reached after the jury heard 10 days of testimony.

The jury accepted the argument by prosecutors William McCauley and Marie Peck that on Oct. 20, 2003, while caring for the boy, Durand punched Brendon Camara so hard he tore the boy’s pancreas in half and ripped free a duct leading to the boy’s stomach.

Durand was the boyfriend of Brendon Camara’s mother, Laura Bowden. He often stayed in the family home at 212 Calvin Ave., Somerset. Durand was caring for Brendon Camara and Brendon’s twin brother, Michael, on the day Brendon died.

It is the second time a jury found Durand guilty of murder. Durand was tried and convicted in 2006. That verdict was overturned on appeal, leading to the second trial.

Durand, 31, formerly of Swansea, showed no emotion through the sentencing hearing on Friday. He was lead from the courtroom in handcuffs.

Read more: http://www.heraldnews.com/archive/x1413022966/Eric-Durand-given-life-in-prison-for-murder-of-4-year-old-boy#ixzz1XWTahFYb