Throughout the trial, the Daily News has invited a panel of experts to comment on what is happening in the courtroom. The panel members are: Wendy Murphy, a former Middlesex assistant district attorney and current victim/witness advocate; John LaChance, a former federal prosecutor and current defense lawyer based in Framingham, and Steve Huff, a professional crime blogger who runs two Web sites. Check back often for our experts' opinions. And if you want to share your opinion, visit our blog.

 Expert Panel - 6/18/08

posted 6/18/08: Boy was this a bad week for the defense. We have to remember that they haven't had their turn yet -- but it's looking like even the legal equivalent of a Hail Mary pass won't help.

First we heard how Neil told two different stories to two different friends when he got to the U.K. In one version, he said he went to Priscilla Matterazzo's home after finding Rachel and Lillian dead and told her what he found, and that he contacted the State Police. This is all untrue - and because it came from the testimony of one of Neil's British friends, there was nothing the defense could do to relieve the sting of the jury hearing such a significant lie. Unlike when a friend of the victim takes the stand, the defense couldn't exactly suggest on cross-examination that Neil's buddies are biased against him.

Then we heard that Neil searched on Google for "how to kill with a knife" only a few days before the crime. I suppose he could argue that because Rachel and Lillian were killed with a gun instead of a knife, there's some doubt about his guilt. But come on -- it's STILL a search about KILLING!

Oh but the real icing on the cake for the prosecution so far this week was when the jury heard about Neil using his laptop to see if anyone had responded to his e-mail request at a swingers sex-buddies type of Web site. This happened not only AFTER the murders but only steps away from where Rachel and baby Lillian lay dead. Neil had sent photos of himself to the site and asked for "takers" -- so he was, um, checking to see if he might have a date. Not exactly the thing that should be on your mind if you just noticed your wife and baby lying in your bed - shot to death.

Call me close-minded but I just don't see how the defense can explain this evidence -- but I'm waiting. If they say it must have been someone else -- the obvious question is who? It was done on HIS laptop in HIS house and the person used HIS e-mail information at a Web site that HE was involved with. So maybe we're supposed to think it was the boogey-man (wouldn't be the first time a defense attorney simply made something up to explain damning evidence - Barry Sheck did it when he suggested baby Matthew Eappen died from an old injury - rather than at the hands of his convicted killer-nanny Louise Woodward. Memo to Elliot Weinstein: Take a lesson from Sheck. The jury was offended by his shenanigans in Woodward's case - and it obviously hurt his client's interests.)

I suppose Weinstein could claim Neil checked out his sexual options on-line BEFORE the murders -- but we know he logged on after 11 a.m. on the day of the crime. And we know that Neil told police he discovered the bodies long before that. Sooooo -- my guess is -- this evidence might just seal the deal for Neil (pardon the rhyme) because the one thing he had going for him was that he didn't seem "the type" who could kill his wife and baby. Far be it for me to dictate what the "type" is -- but I know this: the type of person who logs onto a sex-buddies Web site knowing that the dead bodies of his wife and baby are only steps away is ALSO the type of person who could kill people he claims to love. Dream-date Ken hairdo notwithstanding -- Neil Entwistle is starting to look exactly like the kind of guy who commit an unimaginable crime.

Wendy Murphy is an ex-prosecutor who specialized in child abuse and sex crimes cases. The first lawyer in the country to run a program to provide free legal services to crime victims, Murphy has been fighting for victims' rights for 20 years. Having served as a visiting scholar at Harvard Law School, Murphy now represents crime victims in civil and criminal cases and teaches an advanced seminar on sexual violence at the New England School of Law in Boston. As an adjunct professor, she also manages the Sexual Violence Legal News and Judicial Language projects at her law school and consults with crime victims across the country to help them achieve justice. Murphy, who lives outside of Boston, writes scholarly and pop culture articles, and lectures widely on victims' rights, sex crimes, violence against women and children, media coverage of crime and the criminal justice system.    

posted 6/18/08: Neil's allegedly Googling "how to kill" is weirdly unsurprising. He was a techie by training, a guy who was really comfortable on the Web. The computer was, in his mind, his moneymaker and his magic answer machine -- so why not research the most tried and true murder methods on the Internet?

It seems to smack of planning on his part -- but not much planning, which means there was a touch of desperation underlying his activities. I've never thought of Entwistle -- if he is indeed guilty of these crimes -- as a cold, calculating killer who coolly planned everything in advance. He's always struck me more as an impulsive adolescent. He'd learned to put on an adult act whenever necessary, but inside he was stuck at 12, maturity-wise -- everything was about him and his needs. And used properly, the computer would fulfill those needs -- for information about murder, as a route to meeting a sex partner, you name it.

A guilty verdict would truly render Entwistle a killer for our times.
 

Last year, blogger Steve Huff was featured in MyCase.com, a half-hour special about "cyber-sleuthing" produced for Court TV by Optomen Television. As a freelance journalist Huff contributed groundbreaking investigative articles -- including pieces about the Entwistle case -- to Court TV's CrimeLibrary.com. He currently writes about politics, crime and pop culture for Radar Magazine. Huff's active blogs are The True Crime Weblog and Random Lunatic News. Huff, who lives in Roswell, Ga., is also a classically-trained vocalist and has performed secondary tenor roles with the Atlanta and Knoxville Opera Companies. 

posted 6/6/08: I thought that (prosecutor) Mr. (Michael) Fabbri’s opening statement was well organized and designed for a circumstantial case such as this. He led with his strength, the words and actions of Neil Entwistle himself. This is important because you only have a limited time to catch the jury’s attention and have them view the evidence through the lens of the prosecution. The only problem I saw was the almost too quiet tone of the opening which muted the outrage which should exist just below the surface of the case.

The defense (Elliot Weinstein) opening provided an appropriate contrast to the prosecutor’s opening without disclosing either its specific theory of defense or details of the evidence will elicit both during cross examination of the prosecution witness and during their own case. By keeping their cards close to their vests while emphasizing the presumption of innocence and burden of proof, the defense retains a maximum amount of flexibility without telling the prosecution what the flaws in its case are before exposing those flaws to the jury.

Attorney John H. LaChance has more than 35 years of criminal trial experience in Massachusetts. He focuses his criminal defense practice on state and federal criminal charges, including drug, white collar, violent and sex crimes. LaChance spent four years as an assistant United States attorney for the District of Massachusetts. This experience helps him to understand the prosecution's way of handling both state and federal cases. He is board certified in criminal trial advocacy. In 1991, the Committee for Public Counsel Services presented him with the Edward G. Duggan Award for zealous advocacy and outstanding legal services.