WOBURN, Mass., June 26, 2008
Brit Slay Case Killer Gets 2 Life Terms
Jury Rejected Defense Argument That Rachel Entwistle Killed Her Baby, Then Shot Herself
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Rachel and Neil Entwistle, with their daughter, Lillian, at their home in Hopkinton, Mass. (AP)
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Neil Entwistle watches the jury at 9:10 a.m. EDT Wednesday at Middlesex Superior Court June 25, 2008 in Woburn, Mass., as the jury listens to the the judge before they resume deliberations. (CBS)
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Neil Entwistle at his arraignment in February 2006. (CBS)
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Play CBS Video Video Not Guilty Plea For Entwistle CBS News RAW: Neil Entwistle was in a Massachusetts courtroom facing arraignment for the murders of his wife and baby. Entwistle's lawyer entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
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Video Neil Entwistle Found Guilty The sensational trial of Neil Entwistle, found guilty for murdering his wife Rachel and baby, ends with his mother calling Rachel a murderer. Jeff Glor reports.
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Neil Entwistle was found guilty Wednesday of two counts of first-degree murder in the 2006 deaths of his wife Rachel and their baby, Lillian Rose, in their rented home in Hopkinton. He fled to his native England afterward.
He claims his wife killed the baby and then committed suicide.
"The defendant has the right to put forward whatever he thinks his best defense is," Joe Flaherty, the spokesperson for Rachel Entwistle's family, told CBS News' The Early Show. "People can make their own judgment, but the only judgment that really counts here are the 12 people that decided this case."
During the brief sentencing hearing, Rachel's mother, Priscilla Matterazzo, called Entwistle's theory of a murder-suicide "low and despicable."
"Suffering does not begin to describe what we have been enduring without our beloved Rachel and Lillian," said Matterazzo, who wore a pink rose on her lapel in memory of her granddaughter. "I have lost two generations of my family."
Matterazzo asked that the life sentences be consecutive, to represent the two generations. But Middlesex District Court Judge Diane Kottmeyer said that would be only symbolic since there is no chance he'll be released, and imposed concurrent life sentences.
Entwistle's family continued to support him.
"There is no way our innocent son Neil is guilty," his father, Clifford Entwistle, said before the sentencing. He refused comment afterward.
"We know that our son Neil is innocent, and we are devastated to learn that the evidence points to Rachel murdering our grandchild and then committing suicide," Yvonne Entwistle said outside Middlesex Superior Court.
"I knew Rachel was depressed. Our son will now go to jail for loving, honoring and protecting his wife's memory."
District Attorney Gerry Leone denounced Entwistle for blaming his wife for the killings.
"I condemn Neil Entwistle for compounding the unspeakable nature of what he has done by disparaging the memory of his wife and vilifying the entire Matterazzo family by his decisions during the course of this trial," he said.
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The couple met at the University of York, England, in 1999, where Rachel, who grew up in Massachusetts, had enrolled for a year of study. They lived in England for several years before returning to the United States so they could raise their daughter in the Boston area, near Rachel's family.Looking back on it, I don't know why I did things in the way that I did.
Neil EntwistleProsecutors said Entwistle slid into a downward spiral soon after the move. He had been unable to find a job, had failed at several Internet businesses and had just moved into a $2,700-per-month rented home.
People who knew the couple testified that they appeared to have a happy marriage and were thrilled with their daughter.
But a police detective testified that computer records showed Entwistle trolled the Internet for escort services and joined an online swingers' site, where he posted a profile saying he was an Englishman who was looking to meet "American women of all ages" for sex.
What's even more disturbing, reports CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor, is that prosecutors say Entwistle searched the Web using the words: "how to kill with a knife."
Prosecutors argued that Entwistle, debt-ridden and dissatisfied with his sex life, fired his father-in-law's .22-caliber handgun into his daughter's chest and then shot his wife in the head. He flew on a one-way ticket to England a day after the Jan. 20, 2006, killings, they said.
The defense called no witnesses during the trial.
Neil Entwistle's defense attorney Elliot Weinstein defended that decision in an interview with Glor.
"It's absolutely important that the prosecution prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt," Weinstein said. "A defendant, neither Neil Entwistle, nor any defendant, should be required or expected to put forward evidence."
Jurors listened to three hours of recorded phone conversations Entwistle had with a state trooper in the week after the fatal shootings.
On the recording, Entwistle struggles to explain why he never called police or sought medical help for his wife and daughter. He explains that he returned the gun used to kill them to his father-in-law's house 50 miles away in an effort to preserve his wife's honor. He says he flew to England because he needed to be consoled by his parents.
"Looking back on it, I don't know why I did things in the way that I did," he tells the trooper.
Entwistle never mentioned the murder-suicide theory during his statements to police.
Entwistle's attorney, Elliot Weinstein, told the jury that police failed to consider suicide because they immediately focused on his client as a suspect.
"Everything that Neil did after finding Rachel and Lillian in that bedroom, he did because he loved them," Weinstein said.
"We remain confident going forward that we will get a reversal because of the rulings on unlawful search of that home in Hopkinton and that's really what our focus will be going forward," Weinstein told Glor.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 30 CommentsNow, now. I''m not a mysogynist. I just firmly believe that women have to be clearly advised of the boundaries and expectations associated with marriage. Otherwise narcissim and parasitic psychopathy can develop very quickly in her mindset, causing the husband to wish he had either remained single or found a successful way to keep his dear wife respectful and obedient.
I''m going to remember your name Edgar. When I see you up on similar charges, your psots will come back to haunt you you mysoginist pig.
Right on MY Brother!
I don''t do CRIME BECAUSE I can''t do the Time!
Discrimination had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with this crime or the verdict.
This is a selfish, cruel, petty, deranged double murderer who you are now implying was somehow discrimminated against!??? ARE YOU NUTS?
Just because SOME people see BOGEYNEN everywhere, that doesn''t mean they REALLY exist! And OJ was innocent too, Right?
I''m surprised you don''t cite sources. Who says "influences, be it television, hate speech, or even the looks certain people get for asking a simple question" makes us who we are? Or is that your personal hypothesis?
"Because you are not a good warrior in the times of tribal Europe, of 50 million years ago..."
Since when was Europe populated with people even 5 million years ago?? Leading theories suggest a human timeline (anywhere in the world) of less than three million years.
see
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-modern-human-origins
Please include your sources.
Clearly you are either an anarchist who cares little for law and the betterment of society through lawful prosecution or you are indifferent to the murder of innocents, preferring to cling to your goofy idealizations than to common sense and reality!
Our society reserves the right to impose its collective will by order of law on any individual who violates a sacred trust.
Do I need to enumerate the number of egregious trusts brokenin this case?
I DON''T THINK SO!
Justice IS served and a just punishment has been set forth for this cruel, petty, deranged little man.
The society is better for having prosecuted our midsts this treacherous evil doer. Your sympathy is misplaced. There is nothing more need be said.
We need to elevate our world, not add misery and blame to it.
How then can I be defending a male? I am consistent ,as a scholar, in my views/teachings/ writings and testing of young minds sent to me for expanding education. (!)
I am not defending this one person, rather I am defending all people !
Because you are not a good warrior in the times of tribal Europe, of 50 million years ago, does not make you an evil person, because you could not be violent. Similarly, if you are violent in today''s social mileu, does not make you a "evil" or "bad" - so you need not be BLAMED - or have society announce from some ancient rock, that you must be punished.
When we learn to give up the BURDEN of BLAME we can free oursleves.
I teach at a public NYC College, and proud of it.
Not sure what or where you teach .. but you might consider personal accountability .. something that our society has completely forgotten ...
therapy is only successful for folks who embrace it ... and most times it is a feel good session that one can do for themselves ...
For you to blame anything or anyone else for this dispicable murderer''s actions is preposterous ...
How can you hold a TV show or hate speeches responsible for a cold caluculated murderer who shot his infant daughter and wife in the head?
Please let everyone know what college you belong too, so some of us can make sure our children dont get anywhere near your class or the campus !!!
JEEZ !!
This man perhaps suffered by his wife, I do not know, and do not care, as she too may have suffered from her parents, and passed along the dysfunction.
We need therapy, not BLAME. It just sends the cycle of blame and violence around and around, again and again.
A
oh, and nelson5714 is one sick puppy
Posted by jjarden at 01:05 PM : Jun 26, 2008"
she must have got that from the way that fat Babs coddled, protected and covered for your beloved lord god pretzeldunce baboon eh cletus
If this were you daughter and granddaughter you would be looking to place blame as well. It doesn''t matter what the wife did or didn''t do in the marriage. The child was to young to have done anything to deserve this and if this young man is the one who did this to his family two hots and a cot for the rest of his life is too good for him the bible says and eye for an eye he should be put to death.
Posted by Extremophil
If you think that''s so great, living in prison, why don''t you go out and kill a few people, and you''ll get to experience it too? Or maybe it''s not so great???
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See all 30 Comments