New England in brief
BOSTON
Justice Department lawyers filed a petition yesterday urging a federal appeals court in Boston to reconsider its ruling upholding a $101.7 million award to four men who were found to have been framed by the FBI for a gangland slaying and spent decades behind bars. A three-member panel of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled in August that the government was liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress for covering up evidence that Peter J. Limone, Joseph Salvati, Louis Greco, and Henry Tameleo were innocent of the 1965 slaying in Chelsea of Edward “Teddy’’ Deegan. In its petition, the Justice Department argued that the three-judge panel erred in awarding damages for emotional distress because it had rejected a lower court finding that the government was responsible for the malicious prosecution of the four men.UMass president backs law school plan
Jack M. Wilson, president of the University of Massachusetts, formally endorsed a proposal yesterday to create the state’s first public law school in Southeastern Massachusetts. Under a plan announced last month, the 235-student Southern New England School of Law would donate its assets and facilities to UMass-Dartmouth, in a deal worth an estimated $22.6 million. Wilson expressed confidence in projections by UMass-Dartmouth chancellor Jean F. MacCormack, who said the law school’s coffers would grow from $1.8 million in 2011 to $10.2 million by 2018.Acting US attorney plans to resign post
Michael K. Loucks, a federal prosecutor for nearly 25 years who served as acting US attorney in Massachusetts for seven months this year, plans to resign Dec. 19. Loucks informed the newly appointed US attorney, Carmen M. Ortiz, of his plans in a letter this week. He did not specify what he intends to do next. Loucks was first assistant US attorney under Ortiz’s predecessor, Michael J. Sullivan. Loucks served as acting US attorney until Ortiz, an appointee of President Obama, was confirmed by the Senate on Nov. 5.SCITUATE
Woman allegedly sets fire to her home
Four police officers and a woman suffered minor injuries after she intentionally set fire to her Scituate home yesterday afternoon, officials said. The woman was well known to Scituate police, who have responded to her home on several occasions for behavior issues, said a fire official briefed on the issue who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter. After police were called to the home, the woman barricaded herself inside and started a fire in the kitchen, according to the official. The fire was extinguished.MALDEN
DA’s office clears police in fatal shooting
The Middlesex district attorney’s office has cleared police in the fatal shooting of a man in a confrontation last summer in Malden. District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. said that two officers who fired their guns were acting “to save their own lives and those of their fellow officers.’’ Alexander Nesom, 20, died after being shot once in the left thigh, which perforated the femoral artery and vein, causing him to bleed to death. The confrontation began when Malden police officers spotted a car that had been reported stolen. When they tried to get the occupants out, Nesom threw the car into reverse, hitting one officer and dragging another. He then drove forward, hitting a third officer, and two officers fired their guns. Leone said the officers’ actions were justified to “bring the incident under control and protect lives.’’PLYMOUTH
Driver, 23, faces homicide, DUI charges
A young man has been accused driving drunk late Thursday night when his car hit a tree in Plymouth, killing his 23-year-old passenger. Captain John Rogers of the Plymouth Police Department said Ryan Corbett, 23, walked away from the crash and was found about a quarter-mile away. Corbett’s passenger was pronounced dead at the scene. The name of the deceased was not released pending family notification, Rogers said. Corbett was taken to Jordan Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. He was to be arraigned yesterday in Plymouth District Court on charges of motor vehicle homicide, operating under the influence of liquor, and operating to endanger.
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