Retrial a go for Braintree man imprisoned since 1981

A man who has spent 36 years behind bars for a Braintree murder he insists he did not commit will get a new trial after a judge found that recently disclosed evidence should give him another chance at freedom.

Superior Court Judge Raymond P. Veary Jr. yesterday overturned Frederick Weichel’s murder conviction after considering a document that could have led the jury to “a very different conclusion.”

Weichel was found guilty of first-degree murder on Aug. 20, 1981, for the May 31, 1980, killing of Robert LaMonica.

The case relied on the testimony of a teen who saw the shooter from 180 feet away. He helped authorities with a composite sketch and later identified Weichel as the gunman.

However, new evidence shows that multiple corrections officers who saw the sketch told then-Braintree police Detective James F. Leahy that the perpetrator resembled Rocco Balliro, a man who had pleaded guilty to murdering his girlfriend and her son and was serving a life sentence at MCI Bridgewater.

Balliro had been released from Bridgewater on a furlough the day before LaMonica’s murder and then vanished for several months. A document written by Leahy about the Balliro angle was turned over to Weichel’s attorneys in 2010 after a public records request.

Balliro died in prison in 2012.

Veary, in his 45-page decision overturning Weichel’s conviction, found that not disclosing the document was “prejudicial” and “could have had a profound effect upon the investigation.”

“This is a great day. This is a great day for all of us,” said Denise McWilliams of the New England Innocence Project. “I understand that he is, as you can understand, delighted.”

Weichel’s legal team is working on getting him released as prosecutors consider whether to try him again, according to McWilliams.

“We are disappointed in the ruling. We’re still reviewing it,” said David Traub, a spokesman for the Norfolk District Attorney’s office.

Weichel’s last bid for a new trial was thrown out by the Supreme Judicial Court in 2006, when he argued that his friend, Tommy Barrett, had written to Weichel’s mother in 1982 confessing to the LaMonica murder, according to court documents. Weichel claimed he had been threatened by infamous Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger and Stephen Flemmi, documents show. He testified that he had been visited by Bulger and Flemmi four times and Bulger told him: “I do not want you to bring up Tommy Barrett’s name ever,” according to court documents. The court found the letter noncredible.