Convicted murderer pushes for a new trial. What he says tainted his conviction

Norman Miller, The MetroWest Daily News
Updated ·4 min read
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Neil Entwistle, the Hopkinton man who was convicted 15 years ago of murdering his wife and infant daughter two years earlier, is seeking a new trial.

He is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Entwistle, who was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for the Jan. 20, 2006, shooting deaths of Kingston native Rachel Entwistle, 27, and Lillian Rose Entwistle, 9 months, in their Cubs Path home filed a petition on Aug. 28 with the Supreme Judicial Court.

Entwistle's automatic appeal of the conviction was rejected by the Supreme Judicial Court in 2012. He appealed that ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it declined to hear the case.

Neil Entwistle acknowledges defense lawyer Elliot Weinstein as they return to the courtroom on June 25, 2008, to hear the jury's decision in a case in which Entwistle was accused of fatally shooting his wife and young daughter. The jury found Entwistle guilty of all charges, including two counts of first-degree murder.
Neil Entwistle acknowledges defense lawyer Elliot Weinstein as they return to the courtroom on June 25, 2008, to hear the jury's decision in a case in which Entwistle was accused of fatally shooting his wife and young daughter. The jury found Entwistle guilty of all charges, including two counts of first-degree murder.

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In the petition, which Entwistle filed without an attorney, Entwistle said he is raising an issue that was not previously addressed — whether jurors using a jury room crime reenactment to help them find Entwistle guilty was legal and proper.

"The defendant states that jurors, during deliberations, conducted an extraneous reenactment experiment of the crime scene that denied him the right to a decision based on the evidence at trial, governed by the rules of evidence," according to the motion. "Details of the extraneous reenactment experiment were given by a deliberating juror in a television interview after trial."

Authorities said Entwistle was thousands of dollars in debt and hid that from his wife and family. They said on Jan. 20, 2006, Entwistle drove to his in-laws' home in Carver, stole his father-in-law's handgun, then returned to Hopkinton to shoot his wife and daughter while they were in bed, killing them.

Rachel and Lillian Rose Entwistle
Rachel and Lillian Rose Entwistle

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Entwistle then drove back to Carver and returned the gun to the safe in which it had been stored. He then went to Logan International Airport in Boston, where he booked a one-way ticket to his native England and returned to his Nottingham home. He was later arrested there and returned to the U.S. to face trial.

Defense had argued that wife was responsible for shootings

During Entwistle's murder trial, his lawyer, Elliot Weinstein, argued that Rachel Entwistle died by suicide, shooting herself through her own daughter while holding her. He said Neil Entwistle was distraught after finding his wife and daughter dead and returned the gun to Carver to protect Lillian Entwistle's memory and went home to be comforted by his parents, Clifford and Yvonne Entwistle.

In the motion, Entwistle wrote that two jurors appeared on an episode of NBC's "Dateline" on June 27, 2008.

The jurors described having a fellow jury member who was the same general size as Rachel Entwistle hold a doll the size of Lillian Rose Entwistle and then hold the gun in the position Rachel Entwistle would have had to hold it to shoot herself through the baby.

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The juror said that experiment convinced her that the death was not a suicide.

"Rachel and I were both (5 feet 2 inches)," juror Ashley Sousa said, according to the "Dateline" transcript. "So if we had the same arm length and I held the gun from my head — from my face — and I shot myself, I would have burn marks all over my face."

Entwistle, in the motion, wrote that although there was testimony regarding Rachel Entwistle's height, there wasn't any about her arm length.

Wearing an orange Sheriff's Department jumpsuit, Neil Entwistle is taken from Middlesex Superior Court in June 2008 to begin his life sentence. Entwistle was found guilty of murdering his wife, Rachel, and their 9-month-old daughter, Lillian, in January 2006.
Wearing an orange Sheriff's Department jumpsuit, Neil Entwistle is taken from Middlesex Superior Court in June 2008 to begin his life sentence. Entwistle was found guilty of murdering his wife, Rachel, and their 9-month-old daughter, Lillian, in January 2006.

In addition, a chemist who did testify could not say what distance the gun residue could travel once the gun was fired, according to Entwistle's motion.

Entwistle argues the jury improperly conducted an experiment and considered information outside of the evidence presented.

"Jurors actively engaged in and used the extraneous reenactment experiment to resolve a key issue," he wrote in the motion. "Ashley Sousa rendered her guilty verdict against the defendant based on information introduced by and conclusions drawn from the jury's reenactment experiment of the crime scene."

The Middlesex District Attorney's Office has until Nov. 29 to file a response. The issue will then be sent to a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court for a ruling.

Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or nmiller@wickedlocal.com. For up-to-date public safety news, follow him on Twitter @Norman_MillerMW or on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerCrime.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Neil Entwistle wants new trial in Hopkinton murders of wife, daughter