Judge who reduced Lopes’ bail criticized early release of Jared Remy

The judge who last November reduced bail on Emanuel Lopes — now accused of killing Weymouth police Sgt. Michael Chesna — had previously criticized prosecutors’ failure to keep domestic murderer Jared Remy behind bars.

Prosecutors asked for $5,000 cash bail on Lopes last October after he was arrested for dealing cocaine to minors and resisting arrest, when police reported they had “fought” with him before. Judge Neil Hourihan ordered him sent for a drug and alcohol evaluation over prosecutors’ objections. Quincy District Court Judge Jeanmarie Carroll then granted Lopes $500 bail in November. The conditions of Lopes’ release were that he remain drug and alcohol-free. Lopes however, failed to appear for a random drug screening in February. His case was due for a discovery hearing on July 30.

Carroll, a Norfolk County first assistant district attorney at the time, was previously assigned to work with Secretary of Public Safety Kevin M. Burke on an independent review of Remy’s controversial release before he stabbed his girlfriend Jennifer Martel to death in 2014. They concluded that the Middlesex DA’s office mishandled the case, saying prosecutors did not weigh all of the risks.

The Remy report stated: “We find that in this instance the absence of a dialogue among colleagues or request for a supervisor’s opinion for both the assistant district and the victim witness advocate is striking. We find that critical information that was available at the time of arraignment … was not given appropriate attention or weight.”

The report also found that Remy’s past history of violence should have been “pursued more aggressively” leading up to the murder of Martel.

Carroll also ruled that an Attleboro man, Cristofer Veloz, 20, who was accused of assaulting a police officer and commandeering his cruiser in 2017, was “not a danger,” according to The Sun Chronicle. The judge set Veloz’s bail at $7,500 and noted that her decision did “not minimize how serious this incident is.”

Veloz was allegedly high on mushrooms when he crashed into a utility pole during a struggle with the officer.

Carroll, who was appointed by former Gov. Deval Patrick, became the first woman to serve as first district attorney in Norfolk County in 2014. She declined The Herald’s request for comment yesterday.