Emmanuel Lopes, the man who fatally shot a Weymouth Police Department sergeant and an innocent bystander in July 2018, was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for their murders after offering an unexpected apology to both families.
Emanuel, 26, Lopes appeared in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, where Judge Beverly Cannone handed down consecutive life sentences after family and friends of 42-year-old Sgt. Michael Chesna and 77-year-old Vera Adams delivered emotional victim impact statements.
In a last-ditch effort to show remorse moments before learning his fate, Lopes stood up and issued an apology for his actions .
“This never should have happened,” Lopes told the families of Sgt. Chesna and Adams.
Michael’s wife, Cindy Chesna, urged the court to show no leniency on Lopes so her family could finally rid him of their lives and heal together.
“I have never once uttered the defendant’s name and never will. It’s a waste of breath because he is nothing. Nothing except the living proof that evil does exist,” Michael’s wife, Cindy Chesna, read aloud in front of rows of police officers who packed the courtroom.
Jack Chesna, Michael’s 10-year-old son, said via his mother, “I want the roachy monster to know that he’s a horrible, horrible person.”
“He was my best friend. Someone who always made me happy,” 15-year-old Olivia Chesna, Michael’s daughter, said via her mother. “I would like to ask the court to impose the maximum sentence on the man who stole my father’s life.”
Michael’s mother, Maryann Chesna, called Lopes, “The monster I warned my kids about.”
The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office had asked the Commonwealth to give Lopes consecutive sentences of 30 years to life for Chesna’s murder and 25 years to life for Adams’ murder.
Lopes’ lawyer, Larry Tipton, argued for Cannone to run the two murder sentences concurrently or at the same time because it would give his client a parole hearing in 30 years instead of 55 years.
Tuesday’s sentencing comes months after Lopes was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Chesna, a military veteran and married father of two, and Adams, a beloved 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 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.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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