Walpole man is awarded $400k for wrongful arrest

A Walpole man wrongfully arrested for the brutal 1998 murder of a 75-year-old relative was awarded $400,000 yesterday by a US District Court jury in Boston, which found that the trooper who arrested him had violated his rights.

For Edmund Burke, 56, who spent 41 days in jail for the slaying of his sister-in-law's mother, Irene Kennedy of Foxboro, the long-awaited verdict meant vindication.

"It took a long time for true justice to be achieved for Ed Burke," said Robert Sinsheimer, his Boston-based lawyer. "We're grateful that 12 conscientious citizens could see the truth. . . . This jury said he was wronged. No one has ever said that before formally."

The jury found that Trooper Stephen McDonald violated Burke's rights because he knew of DNA evidence clearing the suspect before arresting him in December 1998, nine days after Kennedy was beaten, strangled, and repeatedly stabbed in Walpole's Bird Park.

Burke was held until a new district attorney decided authorities lacked evidence to prosecute. In September, Martin Guy of Norwood was convicted of murdering Kennedy.

State Police declined to comment. A lawyer representing McDonald did not return calls.

Several hours before arresting Burke, McDonald received a call from the Maine State Police crime lab who told him DNA evidence had excluded Burke as a suspect, Sinsheimer said. McDonald's lawyer argued that he did not get the full report from Maine State Police until a day after the arrest, said Sinsheimer.

DAVID ABEL