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Gang member convicted of murdering Revere police officer

E-mail|Link February 2, 2010 05:09 PM

Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe

Patty Talbot, Officer Talbot's mother, reacting to the verdict

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

The man accused of killing Revere Police Officer Daniel Talbot in 2007 was convicted of second-degree murder today by a Suffolk Superior Court jury, in a case that continues to cast a shadow over the city's police department.

David L. Ryan/Globe Staff

Robert Iacoviello

The verdict against Robert Iacoviello, now 22, was detailed before a courtroom packed with police officers, Talbot's family and friends, and relatives of the defendant. Members of both families wept when the verdict was announced and declined comment as they left the courtroom.

Iacoviello, a diminutive, dark-haired man who prosecutors said was a member of the Bloods gang, shot Talbot above his right eye in the early morning hours of Sept. 29, 2007, believing he was a gang rival, law enforcement officials said.

Iacoviello's co-defendant, James Heang, was convicted of being an accessory after the fact for helping to dismantle the handgun used to shoot Talbot. It was not clear if any relatives of Heang's were in the courtroom today.

During the trial, prosecutors said that Talbot, three other Revere officers, and Talbot's fiancee Constance Bethell, were drinking behind Revere High School at about 2 in the morning. That is when Iacoviello's friend Derek Lodie, another Blood member, walked by.

Talbot, who witnesses said was intoxicated, began taunting Lodie, using gang signals and slurs.

Lodie left and returned minutes later with Iacoviello and three other people, all of whom were wearing masks over their faces.

When Talbot approached the group, over the protests of Bethell and the other officers, Iacoviello fired, prosecutors said.

The trial cast an unflattering light on the Revere Police Department, revealing how the officers took firearms qualifications tests and then drank for hours that night, at one point cracking beers open while driving in a truck. They drank shots of liquor and more beer at a nearby bar, before lugging bottles of Bud Light to the bleachers behind the high school.

One officer, former sergeant Evan Franklin, ran from the scene after the shooting started.

Assistant District Attorney Edmond Zabin was critical of these actions during his opening and closing statements, calling them shocking and outrageous.

Iacoviello's lawyer, Peter Krupp, repeatedly highlighted the officers' drinking that night as he tried to poke holes in the prosecution's argument that his client fired first. After the verdict, Krupp insisted that Iacoviello has been convicted of a crime he did not commit.

"We have said from the beginning of this case that Bobby Iacoviello did not kill Danny Talbot,'' said Krupp, who also said the verdict will be appealed. "He didn't � and the jury verdict does not change that.''

District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, whose office had sought a first-degree murder conviction, said, "We are very satisfied with the today's verdict. ... It was based on the evidence and very reasonable.''

Iacoviello faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.

Heang faces up to seven years in prison for the accessory conviction.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Patrick Brady set sentencing for 2 p.m. Friday at the Boston courthouse.