United States Supreme Court Upholds Puopolo Case Retrial

The United States Supreme Court Monday upheld the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling that granted new trials to three men accused of the murder of Andrew P. Puopolo '77.

Puopolo, a starting defensive cornerback for Harvard, died Dec. 17, 1976, from injuries sustained during a scuffle in Boston's Combat Zone 31 days earlier. He had been celebrating the end of the football season with teammates.

Leon Esterling, Edward J. Soares, and Richard S. Allen were convicted of first degree murder on March 24, 1977. Their convictions were reversed when the state Supreme Judicial Court ruled March 9, 1979 that the prosecution had violated the constitutional rights of the three black men by rejecting 12 of the 13 prospective black jurors.

New Motion

During the first hearing on pretrial motions yesterday, defense attorney Henry F. Owen III filed a motion to separate Allen's files from those of the other two defendants, a move that Owen has said he would follow by asking the court to grant Allen a separate trial.

The original trial court ruled that the three men acted in a "joint enterprise," and all received mandatory life sentences with no possibility of parole.

During the original trial, Owen said Easterling had testified that Allen "had not been involved in the altercation that led to Puopolo's death." Allen was the only one of the defendants found not guilty of the stabbing of one of Puopolo's companions, Thomas J. Lincoln '77.

Defense attorneys also filed a motion to strike the testimony of government witness Russell Savage '78, in order to "limit the scope of the government's case," and eliminate "a lot of prejudicial testimony," Owens said.

Proceedings to select a new jury will begin October 16, the day the new trial is scheduled to open.