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WEATHER TONIGHT Partly cloudy. Low of 58.
The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2014
VOL. 83 NO. 211
Judge denies motion to dismiss murder charge By CHAD CAIN Daily Hampshire Gazette NORTHAMPTON — A Hampshire Superior Court judge has denied a defense motion to dismiss the murder charge against Cara Lee Rintala who is accused of murdering her wife in 2010. The nine-page ruling Monday by Judge Mary-Lou Rup may clear the way for a third trial against Rintala, who is accused of strangling her wife, Annamarie Cochrane Rintala, 37, in the basement of the couple’s Granby home on March 29, 2010. Rintala, 47, has already been tried twice on the murder charge. Both time juries came back deadlocked and mistrials were declared. Rintala’s attorney, David Hoose, said yesterday he is analyzing the ruling and is weighing whether to ask the state Supreme Judicial Court to review it. He said that decision should be made within the next three weeks. “We’re obviously disappointed and we are taking a look at the decision,” Hoose said. Should the defense appeal to the SJC, Hoose said their arguments would mirror those detailed in its 42-page motion to dismiss filed in Hampshire Superior Court in May. In that motion, Hoose and defense attorney Luke Ryan, both of Northampton, argued that the prosecution has no significant new evidence to present at another trial and that the evidence at the second trial was insufficient to persuade a jury to convict their client. The defense also asserted Rintala’s right to a fair trial and due process, and that she not to be placed in double jeopardy. A month later, First Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Steven Gagne filed a motion opposing the request to dismiss the charge. He said he expects new evidence to be entered at a new trial including testimony from paint, crime-scene and strangulation experts. “We’re pleased that Judge Rup denied the motion and See Judge, Page 8
— Zora Neale Hurston
75 cents
Firefighters to remember 9/11 tragedy
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, a candidate for governor in the upcoming Democratic primary, shares a laugh with Westfield resident Carole Cummings and Norma Hill of the city’s Democratic City Committee during a campaign stop in May at Leo’s Gallery Deli in downtown Westfield. (File photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
Baker to face Coakley in governor’s race By STEVE LeBLANC and BOB SALSBERG Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley and Republican Charlie Baker are moving on to November after winning the nominations of their respective parties for governor yesterday. Coakley defeated state treasurer and former Democratic party chairman Steven Grossman and former federal health care administrator Don Berwick. Baker, the 2010 GOP nominee for governor, will get another shot at winning the governor’s office after cruising to a decisive win over Mark Fisher, a tea party-affiliated business owner. A former Harvard Pilgrim Health Care executive, Baker lost four years ago to Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, who is not seeking re-election. Coakley also is seeking a reversal of political fortune after her upset loss to Republican Scott Brown in the 2010 special election to succeed the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy. While that defeat led many within her party to question her effectiveness as a campaigner, she has repeatedly said that she has learned from her mistakes and will be a stronger candidate this time around. While some pre-primary polls showed
Primary results by ward, Page 6 Coakley with a double-digit lead over her Democratic opponents, unofficial returns showed her winning only about 42 percent of the Democratic vote and leading Grossman by single digits. Coakley took immediate aim at Baker, saying his economic policies would favor the rich. “Charlie Baker believes that voters won’t remember that he ran as a tea party conservative in 2010,” Coakley told supporters in her victory speech. “We believe that voters are smart enough to see through Charlie’s superficial transformation,” she added. Baker told supporters that he and his running mate, former state Rep. Karyn Polito, would end what he called one-party government in Massachusetts by bringing independent leadership and fiscal discipline to Massachusetts. “Our opponents are stuck in the past,” said Baker. “They’re proposing more spending, no reforms, higher taxes, and the continuation of the status quo.” For Baker, 57, the primary helped him reinforce his image as a fiscally cautious but See Baker, Coakley, Page 3
Coakley, Fisher, Vottero win city primaries By Peter Francis Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The unofficial tallies for the 2014 Democratic and Republican Primaries are in and Attorney General Martha Coakley and Westfield-born businessman Mark Fisher have won their respective primaries here in the city. Springfield attorney Brett Vottero also won the Democratic ballot to emerge as Westfield’s pick for Hampden County District Attorney. Of the 23,789 registered voters in the city of Westfield, 3,771 cast ballots in either primary, which is almost 16 percent of the city’s electorate. In the city’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, Coakley defeated State Treasurer Steve Grossman by a wide margin, 1,019-856, with former Medicare/Medicaid Administrator Dr. Don Berwick claiming 432 votes.
Coakley bested Grossman, who earned the party’s nomination at their July convention and several notable media endorsements in metro Boston, in 10 of the city’s 12 precincts and defeated him in the statewide election as well. In the Westfield GOP primary, native son Mark Fisher beat former Harvard Pilgrim Health Care CEO Charlie Baker 671-597, winning eight city precincts. Baker, the Republican Party’s gubernatorial nomination in 2010 and 2014, ended up defeating Fisher by a comfortable margin statewide to win the GOP primary again and the right to face Coakley Nov. 4. In the four-way race for Hampden County District Attorney, former Assistant District See Primaries, Page 3
Burglary reported, suspects arrested By CarlE. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A watchful resident coupled with a prompt and knowledgeable police response resulted, within minutes, in the apprehension of three men who allegedly smashed their way into a convenience store to steal cigars and cigarettes. A Montgomery Road resident called 911 a 1:16 a.m. yesterday to alert police that at least two people were then in the act of robbing J.J.’s Variety store. The woman told an emergency dispatcher that she had seen two men smash the front window of the store across the street from her apartment and had seen one of the men go into the store while the second man went to the rear of the building. Sgt. Michael Kane arrived within minutes along with officers Matthew Preuss, Frank Solimani and Efrain Luna and the officers found the front window of the store
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”
By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Westfield Fire Department will welcome as guests all members of the public who choose to attend the department’s annual ceremony to recognize and remember those who lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attack on the nation. Since the tragedy, members of the fire department have staged a brief ceremony of remembrance on the anniversary and this year will stage their exercises on Thursday, at 10 a.m., at the department’s Broad Street headquarters. The public is invited to join all available firefighters who will be gathered outside the headquarters before a backdrop of emergency vehicles when a ceremonial sequence will be rung on a fire bell before the national flag is lowered to halfmast. After a full minute of silence, firefighters will offer two prayers before the bell cadence is again sounded and the flag is returned to full mast. The Town of Southwick will also remember the losses of 9/11 with a remembrance ceremony at the Southwick Fire Department at 9:30 a.m.
Paving in flood plain discussed By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Conservation Commission last night conditionally approved a compensatory storage plan submitted by F.L. Roberts for its 90 South Maple Street facility. The condition attached to the Roberts’ petition is that it will require additional approval by the state National Heritage and Endangered Species Program because the proposed site of the compensatory plan is within land designated as endangered species habitat. The plan is being required because of two islands constructed to accept payment at the Roberts’ car wash facility and an area, which was dug up to install electrical and communication wires, needed to be repaved. The Conservation Department issued an enforcement order halting further work because the construction site is in a flood plain. Last night Filipe Cravo of R. Levesque Associates presented a plan to floodwater storage in a nearby part of the property. “We’re providing 142 cubic feet of comp storage some of it in a Natural Heritage area,” Cravo said. “Our office did a (topography assessment) of the property. The plan provides a net surplus of 8.8 cubic feet.” The excavated area for the new compensatory storage area will be stabilized with erosion controls and seeded following the work, which, the commission said, cannot be initiated until the state agency approves that action in the priority See Flood Plain, Page 3
SPD receives dispatch grants By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – The Southwick Police Department (SPD) received the first of two grants for dispatch training, salaries and equipment this week. The $10,000 grant will be used to supplement salaries and purchase hardware and software upgrades, according to Police Chief David A. Ricardi. The second grant is just over $28,000 and will be used for training. The SPD has four full-time dispatchers and four part-time dispatchers. Ricardi said he explored expanding the department. “When I first became chief I looked into dispatch to see if See SPD, Page 8
SERGIO M. COZZAGLIO
DOMINIC JAMES GIORDANO
ANTHONY W. RAMIREZ
at 122 Montgomery had been smashed out. Officers established a perimeter around the store to contain anybody still inside but Luna was the one to hit pay dirt when he made a sweep of the area and spotted a vehicle that looked out-ofplace less than five minutes after police first arrived at the crime scene. Luna reports that the red
2000 Dodge Intrepid was parked at a Prospect Street address he is familiar with and he recognized that it did not belong there. Luna approached the vehicle and spoke with the three occupants who initially told him they were there to drop off one of the passengers but, since Luna knew who lived at the address, he knew that to be a fabrication.
Luna reports that the suspects were generally evasive and offered no reasonable explanation of their presence in the area. One of the occupants, who was wearing only a shirt, complained of the chill but officers noticed that there were a number of sweatshirts and hats in the car that nobody See Suspects, Page 8