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Drew final briefs due Monday
TAUNTON — Final legal briefs regarding convicted cult murderer Carl Drew’s evidentiary hearings are due on Superior Court Judge John Connor’s desk Monday morning.
Connor recently approved an extension to the filing deadline. The briefs were initially due Friday, but Connor chose to allow attorneys on both sides this weekend to complete their findings of facts and final legal briefs on the case.
“Apparently, the judge is really eager to get the case,” Drew’s attorney, Michael Cutler, said Friday. “I will have mine in on Monday night.”
The hearings to determine whether Fall River’s most notorious convicted murderer will be granted a new trial came to a close last month.
Drew, who was convicted of the macabre slaying of Fall River prostitute Karen Marsden in 1981, has been in state prison serving out a life prison sentence ever since.
Drew was also linked to but never convicted of two other ritualistic slayings which occurred shortly before the Marsden murder.
But Drew has maintained his innocence for the better part of three decades and now pins his hopes for freedom on Connor’s final ruling.
His motion for a new trial was based largely on recantations by former key prosecution witnesses, who all now swear they were threatened into testifying falsely about Drew’s role in the murder by former top prosecutors, David Waxler and Ronald Pina.
During the initial investigation and trial, Drew was painted as a satanic cult leader who was involved in at least three murders during 1979 and 1980.
Since the case includes hundreds of pages of police reports and court transcripts, the hearings took nearly two full weeks to complete.
Cutler said his final legal brief will be about 70 pages thick.
He has also requested a chance to offer a closing oral argument to Connor, tentatively scheduled for Dec. 20.
“This has been an uphill battle the entire time, but I got all the evidence in that I wanted and that’s all I can ask for,” Cutler explained. “The more I dig into this case, the more I have found.”
Once the briefs are filed and final arguments are made, the decision will rest solely on Connor’s shoulders. There is no timetable set for his final decision on the matter.
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