US Supreme Court won’t hear Entwistle murder appeal

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

The US Supreme Court will not hear the appeal of Neil Entwistle, the Hopkinton man who killed his wife and nine-month-old daughter in 2006.

The court published a list on its website today of cases that it had denied certiorari; the Entwistle case was one of them.

Entwistle’s wife, ­Rachel, and daughter, Lillian, were found shot to death in the master bedroom of their Hopkinton home on Jan. 22, 2006. Entwistle was convicted in 2008.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld his convictions in August.

Among other things, Entwistle challenged two warrantless searches of the home made by police. Police had entered the home after Rachel Entwistle’s mother and two of her friends raised concerns. On the second search, the bodies of the mother and daughter were found.

The state high court ruled that warrantless government searches are “presumptively unreasonable” under the US and state constitutions. But it said there was an exception for “emergency aid,” which allows police to enter a home when they have reason to believe someone inside may be injured or in imminent danger.

Entwistle’s attorney filed a request for review with the US Supreme Court on Nov. 8.