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Man on trial is accused of killing his wife over her devotion to the Mormon Church

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Thursday October 16, 2008

Mass. man on trial in death of Mormon-devoted wife

BOSTON (AP) — Carla Souza was a dutiful member of the Mormon church, hosting dinner meetings at her house, taking care of children in the nursery school and going out with missionaries to spread the word about her faith.
Her devotion, prosecutors said, didn’t sit well with her husband.
On May 21, 2006, a bloodied Jeremias Bins walked into the Framingham police station and said he had just bludgeoned his wife and stepson with a hammer, authorities said.
Bins allegedly said he was angry over the amount of time his wife spent with members of the church. Souza and her 11-year-old son, Caique, had been found an hour earlier by police who responded to her 911 call.
“Can you come to my house, please? I have a problem with my husband,” Souza had said, according to court documents filed by prosecutors. Then the line went quiet, and police got only busy signals when they called back. Officers went to the home and found Souza, 37, and her son lying in blood on a bedroom floor.
Jury selection began Wednesday in Bins’ murder trial. Opening statements are scheduled for Friday in Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn.
Bins’ attorney, Earl Howard, has said Bins’ confession was coerced, but a judge denied his request to suppress his clients’ statements to police. Howard declined to discuss the case Wednesday as the trial got under way.
Prosecutors said Bins, 33, confessed to the killings after taking a cab to the police station with the couple’s 5-month-old son, Phillipe. He handed the baby to officers and said, “I’m sorry,” according to police.
Bins also allegedly told police he was angry because his wife was trying to persuade him to be baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
About two hours before the killings, Bins called members of the Framingham ward of the church and told them he did not want “you missionaries” at his home any more, according to a police report.
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