BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts’ highest court has overturned an order granting a new trial to a man convicted of killing a 10-year-old Boston girl while shooting at rival gang members.
The Supreme Judicial Court issued its decision in Joseph Cousin’s case on Thursday. The justices said a lower court was wrong when it ruled that an attorney for Cousin had an actual conflict of interest that warranted a new trial.
The SJC says the lower court must re-examine whether Cousin deserves a new trial, using a different standard.
Joseph Cousin was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2002 fatal shooting of Trina Persad as she and her siblings left a park in the Roxbury section of Boston.
Prosecutors said the girl was shot in the face with a sawed-off shotgun Cousin fired.
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