Entwistle defense team faces setbacks
Web pornography evidence allowed
WOBURN - The defense team for Neil Entwistle suffered a series of setbacks yesterday, including testimony from a computer specialist that the British man used his laptop to research "how to kill with a knife" four days before he allegedly shot his wife and baby in their rented Hopkinton home.
Lawrence James, a member of the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council, said that Entwistle, now 29, used the Google search engine to research killing. His testimony had just begun when jurors broke for the day. He is scheduled to be the first witness on the stand today.
This is "Internet history I retrieved from the laptop," said James when asked by prosecutors to look at part of his report in the eighth day of testimony in Middlesex Superior Court. "The top section indicates a visit on Jan. 16, 2006." Prosecutors say that Entwistle killed his wife, Rachel, 27, and 9-month-old baby, Lillian Rose, on Jan. 20.
In addition, Entwistle's defense encountered several other setbacks yesterday, including: friends of the suspect who testified that he gave conflicting accounts of his actions after the slayings; testimony that evidence links him to the weapon allegedly used in the slayings; and the judge's decision that evidence of Entwistle's search of pornography on the Internet can be admitted.
Yesterday, jurors heard from some of Entwistle's college friends, who recounted different stories they said they were told by the suspect concerning what he did after finding his wife and baby dead Jan. 20.
After flying to England following the deaths, Entwistle allegedly told Dashiel Munding that one of his first inclinations after finding Rachel and Lillian dead in the couple's bed was to drive to his in-laws' home and check on his father-in-law's gun collection. "He wanted to make sure that they were secure and that nothing was missing," Munding said.
Prosecutors allege Entwistle used his stepfather's .22-caliber revolver to shoot Rachel and Lillian to death and returned it before anyone noticed it missing.
Another friend, Benjamin Prior, who dined with Munding and Entwistle just before Entwistle was arrested in England in February 2006, said Entwistle told him that before coming to England he told his mother-in-law, Priscilla Matterazzo, of the killings and had reported the information to State Police.
Entwistle found it odd that police called him to report they had found his wife and daughter dead since he had already called to alert them, Prior said.
Prior also said Entwistle told him he found Rachel and Lillian under a comforter. But police have said that Entwistle told them he covered Rachel and Lillian with a comforter in an attempt to "close them off."
Munding also testified about Entwistle's alleged actions at a train stop in England as Entwistle was about to travel to his parents' home in Worksop.
According to Munding, after London police asked him to direct Entwistle off the train and to turn himself into the authorities, Entwistle asked him for another way off the platform.
Defense lawyer Elliot Weinstein defended his client on cross-examination of Munding, saying: "He wanted to go home to Worksop so he could see his family . . . [to] be with his family one more time."
Also yesterday, Laura Bryant, a State Police chemist, testified that Entwistle's DNA profile was found on the grip and trigger locks of the revolver police believe is the murder weapon, as well as on the green metal case of ammunition.
Bryant could not say how long the DNA profile had been there. Entwistle had gone target shooting with his father-in-law, Joseph Matterazzo, twice in fall 2005 and used the same gun.
The DNA profile of Matterazzo was found on the trigger. Police have alleged that after Entwistle used the weapon in the killings, he returned the handgun, which Matterazzo used for target shooting the following day.
Judge Diane Kottmyer made a series of rulings yesterday, most of which will allow information taken from the laptop. The evidence allegedly will show that he trolled pornography sites, sought escorts, and maintained an Adult Friend Finder account.
Defense attorney Stephanie Page said no photos will be admitted as evidence.
Debbie and Kelly Egan, the co-owners of the florist Entwistle called to send bouquets to Rachel and Lillian's funeral service, were also called to the stand. Entwistle initially called on Jan. 30, 2006, asking The Garden of Egan Florist to send a single orange rose and single white lily to the funeral along with a large funeral spray.
One card read, "My Orange Rose & My Lilly, For Always, XOXO."
The spray, which was sent by Entwistle from his side of the family, read, "To Rachel and our precious granddaughter: If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, we would walk right up to heaven and bring you home again, with love always."
