Kathleen Durand - Herald News

Feb. 1, 2005

TAUNTON - Superior Court Judge John P. Connor Jr. Monday denied convicted 'cult murderer' Carl Drew's motion for a new trial.

Drew, 41, was convicted in 1981 of the first-degree murder of Karen Marsden, 20, of Fall River, an alleged prostitute. Drew, who was a pimp, and co-defendant Robin Ann Murphy, a prostitute and pimp, were charged in the ritualistic slaying of Marsden.

Connor's 20-page decision follows an evidentiary hearing he presided over in October and November in Taunton Superior Court. Drew's lawyer, Michael Cutler of Brookline, sought a new trial based on alleged ineffective assistance of Drew's trial counsel, John Birknes, new eyewitness accounts of the murder and injustice resulting from cumulative errors.

Murphy, who was convicted of second-degree murder in the Marsden killing in exchange for her testimony against Drew, was paroled last spring. Murphy testified at the evidentiary hearing that her testimony against Drew at the trial was fabricated and molded by former prosecutors and investigators.

But Connor found that Murphy's testimony was 'the most incredulous of all the witnesses' at the hearing.

"She maintains that she has no recall of Feb. 8, 1980," the day of Karen Marsden?s murder, Connor stated, "that she doesn't remember what she told the representatives of the District Attorney's office on April 29 through May 1 of 1980; and that she doesn't remember testifying at the trial that the defendant killed Marsden.

"The testimony of Murphy's fellow prostitutes and the police officers who were involved in the Marsden investigation in 1991 reveal Murphy to be a very intelligent, controlling and violent person whose primary interest was taking care of herself," Connor said. "Twenty-three years in prison have not changed that impression."

Unlike recanting witnesses Maureen "Sunny" Sparda, Carol Fletcher and Leah Johnson, Connor said, Murphy "appears at the hearing to be in excellent health, in total control and very aware of the circumstance in which she finds herself. She was careful in her testimony not to contradict the story she told the parole board which resulted in her release. I find that her only interest at this hearing is in telling the story that will keep her on the street, and she did not let the truth stand in her way."

Connor found that Sparda, Fletcher and Johnson were also not credible witnesses, and consequently their testimony at the hearing does not warrant a new trial.

As to Drew's claim that Birknes was ineffective at the trial, Connor said that when Drew filed a direct appeal after he was found guilty, the court reviewed the trial, including Birknes' performance, and concluded there was no reason to order a new trial.

Connor also found that the defendant did not prove that there were cumulative errors that resulted in an injustice to Drew.

"I?m deeply disappointed. I still believe completely in (Drew's) innocence," Cutler said.

He said he planned to see Drew today and discuss whether to appeal Connor's decision. Drew can appeal the decision to a single justice of the state Supreme Judicial Court.

"This is a big day for us. We're very pleased," said Assistant District Attorney Michael Connelly, head of the appeals unit.

Connelly said there were many serious allegations during the hearing, and Connor is to be commended for taking his time and weighing all the evidence.

"First and foremost, we are extremely pleased that Karen Marsden's murderer will remain behind bars where he belongs. Judge Connor's denial of the motion is the latest in a long line of decisions reaffirming the justice of the jury?s verdict against Carl Drew,! Connelly said.

During the 11-day hearing, Sparda testified that former Assistant District Attorney David Waxler threatened her that if she testified for Drew, he would see that Sparda went to jail. Waxler, who conducted Drew's two-week trial in 1981, denied ever making such a threat.

"We're also gratified by Judge Connor's total rejection of the reckless, unfounded accusations against David Waxler and other members of the prosecuting team," Connelly said. "It was not difficult for us to find many people, including sitting judges, to come forward to testify as to his impeccable reputation."

A portion of Marsden's skull and items of her clothing were found in a wooded area of Family Beach in Westport on April 13, 1980. Two other members of the group with which she associated, Doreen Levesque and Barbara Raposa, had been murdered around the same time.

The jury in Drew's trial deliberated just three hours before finding him guilty. Twenty-four witnesses testified at the evidentiary hearing. Connor found that each of the defendant's witnesses lacked credibility.

"Judge Connor wholly rejected the witnesses? accusations of misconduct by members of the District Attorney's Office and Massachusetts State Police," District Attorney Paul F. Walsh Jr. said in a press release. "Judge Connor cited Waxler's reputation for honesty and integrity, which was attested to by five sitting or retired judges, a highly respected member of the Committee of Public Counsel Services, and other members of the local bar."

Walsh, like Connelly, said Karen Marsden's murder will remain behind bars.

"I applaud the hard work, under difficult conditions, of assistant district attorneys Kevin Connelly, Steven Gagne and their support staff," Walsh said.

He added that Connor's denial of Drew's fourth motion for a new trial was carefully reasoned.

"No one familiar with the case can entertain the slightest doubt about the justice of Drew's conviction," Walsh said.

In addition to a direct appeal of the guilty verdict, Drew filed motions for a new trial in 1981, 1983 and 1992.

Reportedly, Murphy, Marsden and other prostitutes and pimps from the Fall River area attended satanic rituals conducted by Drew. But Connor stated that Marsden went into hiding from Drew after she witnessed him, Murphy and a third person murder Doreen Levesque in a satanic ritual.

Undercover in a murderous cult

A Case One Detective Will Never Forget

March 23, 1999

By Paul Carey

FALL RIVER, Mass. (APBnews.com) -- It was a case of sex, slaughter and Satanism. One woman was beheaded. Two others had their skulls crushed. Crime scenes were littered with human as well as animal bones.

It all began in October 1979 with a dead body beneath the bleachers of a vocational high school here. We ID'd the corpse as Doreen Levesque, a runaway from a foster home in New Bedford. She had been working as a prostitute in Fall River's red-light district.

It was the weirdest multiple-murder case I ever saw as a detective sergeant in the Fall River Police Department. Not only did I go undercover to attend a Satan worship ritual, I even brought the beer.

The young woman's hands had been bound behind her back; her head had been caved in with a rock. There were signs of peculiar sexual activities.

We had no suspects. There was no clear motive. We were stumped.

Three months later, another woman's body turned up. This one was found in a wooded area behind a local printing plant. She was identified as Barbara Raposa, 22. Like the first victim, her skull had been crushed with a rock and her hands bound behind her back. The slaying had ritualistic overtones to it. Three months before her body was found, Raposa -- also a prostitute -- was reported missing by her boyfriend, Andre Maltais, 44, of New Bedford.

We interviewed Maltais. He told us that the second dead woman was a devil worshiper. We later discovered that Maltais was part of the same devil worship group that held some of its rituals in the area.

We also stumbled on another relevant name: Robin Murphy, a 17-year-old prostitute and pimp who was a former girlfriend of Maltais. We learned that Maltais had ended a long-running relationship with Murphy in order to become Raposa's lover.

'Hovering' over crime scene?

Maltais told investigators that he had a dream of hovering over the crime scene where Raposa's body was found.

Apparently, he saw or remembered too much while he was "hovering." The district attorney had him arrested, charging him with Raposa's murder. When she was questioned, Murphy fingered Maltais as Raposa's killer and agreed to turn state's evidence in return for a lighter sentence.

But there was still the killing of Levesque to solve.

We had long heard there were satanic rituals taking place in the area, but never had cause to investigate. Then, a woman I had helped years ago told me that a satanic group periodically met at her apartment. More importantly, she told me that Raposa, Murphy and a man identified as Carl Drew, 25, all came to satanic rites there.

I told my partner, "Let's go. We're going to meet Satan."

We got two six-packs of beer and went to the apartment. We didn't tell anyone we were cops. People started arriving including Drew, a known pimp, and Murphy. They were soon joined by a woman named Karen Marsden -- who would later end up the third victim in the satanic slaying cluster.

At the apartment, we watched a satanic ritual. There were strange chants. A "Hail, Satan!" announcement indicated that Satan had entered the room.

Pimps and prostitutes

We later found out that Drew had been pimping for Levesque, the first victim, at the time she was murdered and that Murphy was pimping for Marsden. It was an ugly tangle, but we always thought Marsden, 20, was the key.

We later interviewed her about the murders of Levesque and Raposa. She was nervous and cried. We started to believe that she might have been at the scene when the murders occurred. She wouldn't admit that she took part in or saw anything.

I was supposed to meet and interview her again weeks later. But she disappeared.

I knew she was dead. Human skull and animal bones

Marsden's skull was found about six months later in Westport. When we searched the area, we found cat skulls, sheep bones and some jewelry that belonged to Marsden. We also found large clumps of hair -- ripped out by the roots -- that we believe were from her head.

More of Marsden's possessions were found about a half-mile away. We also found a ring with the symbol of the devil on it. It was spooky.

When Maltais went on trial for Raposa's murder, Murphy was the prosecution's key witness. She convinced the DA to grant her immunity in exchange for her testimony that she was present at the slaying of Raposa and had participated in the Marsden murder.

I thought it was a bad move to grant Murphy immunity. I still believe that she was the ringleader behind all the slayings.

In the Marsden killing, Murphy's testimony painted a grisly scene. She said Drew ordered Marsden killed in a nighttime ritual because the young woman wanted to leave the cult. She said Drew also killed Levesque and that "the two girls' souls were offered up to Satan."

Drew, she testified, ordered her to cut Marsden's throat after he crushed the victim's skull with a rock. She said Drew whispered words in a strange language, used blood from the body to paint a cross on her forehead, and then wrenched the head from the body with his bare hands.

Murphy told the jury that Drew had called himself the "son of Satan." Murphy admitted that Raposa, the second victim, was her lover and was involved with her in a prostitution ring.

Maltais continuously denied that he murdered Raposa or was involved in a devil cult. However, he was convicted of Raposa's murder in March 1981 and sentenced to life in prison. Murphy, in exchange for her testimony, was given 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

Overlapping love triangles

But I still believe that Murphy was the real ringleader, not Drew; that Levesque was murdered because Murphy was also in love with her and became jealous when Levesque started seeing Drew. I believe Murphy and Marsden were present when Levesque was killed.

I think Murphy killed Raposa because Raposa was in love with Maltais. Murphy admitted that she and Raposa had previously been lovers.

And, I believe Murphy killed Marsden because of the two previous murders. Marsden was at the scene of those murders, and I believe Murphy knew she was the weak link and might get them convicted.

Also, Murphy later admitted during the Levesque investigation that she lied in naming two other men as Levesque's killers. She later told the DA that she didn't even know the men she had accused. The DA was then forced to release the men.

No one was ever prosecuted for the murder of Levesque.

Maltais died in prison, thinking he was an "agent for the police." He was mentally ill.

I visited Drew in prison a few weeks ago. I am convinced that it was Murphy, not Drew, who ran the whole cult and prostitution ring. Murphy was the dominant personality in the cult and had the motives to commit the slayings. To this day, I am still not satisfied that Drew was present at any of the murders.

But he's in for life.

Murphy will soon be eligible for parole. She was denied parole about five years ago.

A life sentence in Marsden case

By Gloria Negri - The Boston Globe

Jan. 15, 1981

A Fall River teenager who pleaded guilty to a murder that reportedly may have been related to the activities of a satanic cult was given a life sentence yesterday to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Framingham.

Bristol County Superior Court Judge August C. Taveira in New Bedford imposed the mandatory sentence on Robin Marie Murphy, 18. Murphy and two men were charged in the killing of 20-year-old Karen Marsden of Fall River last February in a wooded section of Westport.

In April, a skull, woman’s clothing, and clumps of hair believed to be those of Marsden were found. Murphy had been Marsden’s roommate.

Marsden reportedly told Fall River police shortly before her disappearance that she was a member of a cult whose members were pimps and prostitutes operating on Bedford street in that city.

Fall River police have said that several prostitutes came to them in November 1979 after two women were reported missing and later found dead. Police said they were told that the cult existed and that they had been present at devil-worshipping rituals in Freetown State Forest and in a Fall River housing project.

Assistant Dist. Atty. David H. Waxler saidMurphy, who had pleaded innocent to a charge of first-degree murder, was allowed to change her plea to guilty to second-degree murder because she had agreed to testify against the two men, Carl Drew and Carl Davis, both 26 and both of Fall River. Their trial is scheduled for February.

Murphy’s lawyer, Kenneth L. Sullivan of Fall River, had said Monday that his client had been unduly influenced by the co-defendants and had been under the influence of a satanic cult.

The commonwealth moved to exclude that evidence as not admissible under Massachusetts law, and the court concurred.

According to Waxler, the commonwealth’s position was that the Murphy case remained a first-degree murder case and that the exclusive reason she was allowed to plea to the lesser charge was that she had agreed to testify against Drew and Davis. Murphy will be eligible for parole after 15 years.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Raymond Veary said yesterday that Murphy will also be called as witness in the case of Andre O. Maltais, 44, of Fall River, accused of murdering Barbara Ann Raposa, 19, of Fall River in a secluded area in Fall River’s south end in November 1979. Marsden had been a witness at the probable cause hearing of Maltais.

A jury of 15 was impaneled yesterday in the Maltais case and will visit the scene of the Raposa murder tomorrow.

HI! I'm Carl Drew and this is my story

Again! The Bristol County Legal System Acts Blind When Carl Drew is put before them. The Justice System? ..... Just Another Mafia

By Carl Drew

I am a fifty-year-old man who has spent half of my life in prison for a crime I did not commit. My name is Carl Drew and at the time of my first trial I really believed in the Justice System. So much so that I requested a speedy trial because I believed that as long as I told the Truth I would be set free. Wanting to be freed as soon as possible for a crime I did not commit. I wanted out as soon as possible, wouldn't you? That was my reason for not taking any of the deals they offered me. No deal they offered me could persuade me to plead guilty to the horrific crime I am incarcerated for. I was offered a deal four times by the District Attorney, Mr. Ronald Pina before my trial. While I was working on my appeal, I was asked, if I would take a second-degree plea as did my co-defendant Robin Murphy but, I told them to "stick it because I am innocent!" I would not accept this as if it were some prize as Robin Murphy did because I had not committed the crime that she had so, no deal was acceptable to me.

I lived my life anyway I could to survive. I was far from an angel and it is I, who still feels the shame for those whose feelings I hurt, to get the money I needed to survive. But never did I kill anyone or even think of killing anyone. It takes a sick person to kill people the way those three young woman were killed. It came as no surprise to me that Robin Murphy could do such a thing. I chose to hang around with the misfits of society like myself. I never really hung around with Robin Murphy as I disliked her from my first meeting her. But, others I hung around with did spend time around her. Robin as well as Carl Davis who I'll tell you a little about later on in this newsletter were known Satanist’s and proud of this fact. Well, Robin took what she was doing way too far, and on her own killed three young women. This seventeen-year-old young woman had practiced Paganism before she was even ten years old. She was telling the girls who were hanging around with her that there was a cult and the members of this cult would kill them, but if they paid her a fee which she convinced them to get by prostituting themselves, she could protect them. The only one the fee was going to was her, because in her sick mind she was "The Cult". It seemed Satan had his paws dug so deep into her that nothing seemed too crazy for her to do to those who crossed her path.

In a time and a country where Freedom is supposed to be free, well, at least that's what our forefather's promised us when they signed the Declaration of Independence, you know, Freedom of Speech and Religion along with all those other great promises. I sit here and have to wonder, is it, since I've been imprisoned for twenty-five years. The Legal System along with Robin Murphy who was telling them, because by her own confession, said at my hearing, that the District Attorney's people needed a more horrendous confession, which turned my trial into a Witch Hunt.

It all started out as a one man fight over 25 years ago against the whole Bristol County Legal System. Even my own court appointed attorney wasn't on my side. I know this sounds crazy but it's true. I had to fight the system for a crime I had nothing to do with in anyway what so ever, with no knowledge of how to do so.

My case was dubbed "The Fall River Cult Murders". It has haunted and hurt the families of the victims as well as so many other people over the past twenty-five years. The case, if you can even call it a legitimate one, will be realized is nothing but a farce when given all the facts. When you are through reading this you will also realize it was all put together by a seventeen year old girl by the name of Robin Murphy. She along with the Bristol County District Attorney's, the Judges and the Massachusetts State Police manipulated all of my witnesses and the whole case from day one.

I know that people of all walks of life who have followed this manipulated case have seen what the Bristol County Legal System has done to me. Still all knowing this, after all my appeals, and my evidentiary hearing and all these years there still is no Justice for me. Would someone with a lot of money and/or Political pull still be in prison as I am? I think not! This was proven when Carl Davis who had the same charges as I did slipped out of prison after two years. On this mans first day out of jail he committed another act of severe harm. He went directly to Sunny Sparda's home with a dagger in hand and attempted to kill this then one hundred pound, 3 month pregnant woman. He pummeled her with his fists and then kicked her repeatedly while wearing combat boots. He then plunged the dagger into her head screaming at her, "I know Robin told you it was me, not Carl Drew, who helped her and I'll kill you before I go back to jail". Sunny's neighbor John Denmead heard the commotion in the hallway and came out of his apartment to see hat was going on. Unbeknownst to him that he was walking out into the hands of a murderer he ended up with his hand cut off. For these crimes, while supposedly still awaiting trial for the cult murders, Carl Davis received a five to seven year sentence. Sunny told anyone who would listen that it was Carl Davis, and not I who had helped Robin Murphy with her crimes, but as you can see it fell on deaf ears because here I still sit doing a Natural Life Sentence! A man with money and political pull fathered Carl Davis, two things of which I had none. So after his prison sentence was up, he walked out of jail a free man. While the true murderess Robin Murphy is out on parole never having received any psychological treatment that she so desperately needs. Please read the facts as I have put them before you in this newsletter, so you too will feel the shock and astonishment that this travesty of injustice has been allowed to continue!

I will not tell anyone that I am not upset with Judge John Connor Jr., the Judge who presided over my Evidentiary Hearing, for his decision on my motion for a new trial. People have asked me if I was surprised at his decision to deny me a new trial and to that I answer, "not at all!". The reasons for that are, if you look at the Commonwealths list of potential witness's for my hearing you will see twenty-six names, twenty-six men of a prestigious stature in and around the Bristol County Community. How could I, a man with no money or family in Massachusetts, get a fair hearing? We all know that no state likes an outsider to come into their state and commit a crime. Those who do never seem to be treated fairly unless they have money for a good attorney who may have connections in that state. I had neither the money or a good attorney, I didn't think I needed any of those things since I am innocent of the crime I am imprisoned for.

How could Judge Connor Jr. feel he was being fair to me to even have the hearing in this county? I believe that it's part of his oath taken as a judge to be sure that each individual sent before him get a fair trial or hearing. I guess he didn't take his oath very seriously just as the rest of the Bristol County Legal System involved in my case didn't seem to take theirs. I know that when you have a job you make friends at work and you may or may not continue that friendship outside the workplace. But when it comes to the kind of work a judge, a District Attorney or a Lawyer do I don't believe their work should be discussed outside the courtroom, unfortunately it does! Do I have proof of Judge Connor doing such things as speaking of my case outside the courtroom, maybe perhaps over dinner with his colleagues, no I don't. I will however tell you of a friend of mine who had a retired Bristol County Attorney as her attorney. She was very concerned as to the amount of time she would be receiving for her crime because it was of a fairly serious nature. So she asked this attorney if he had any idea of the number of years they were offering her as a sentence. Knowing how eager she was he put her mind at ease by sharing with her that he, the District Attorney and the Judge on her case would be having dinner together that night at the District Attorney's home. And he would be sure to know the next morning when she called him what her sentence would be. When she called him the next morning he did know her exact sentence. So proof is out there if you have the means to look for it that cases are spoken of outside of the courtroom. It is a shame that we have to worry about getting the right judge because the law is the law! It shouldn't matter what relationship the judge has to the prosecution or the defense.

If you sit on a trial or a hearing you will hear the District Attorney and the attorney call one another esteemed brothers. When the Judges bench is approached the lawyer or the District Attorney or both say "may we approach your honor". This is all going on around me as I'm sitting shackled, barely able to move and not once was I referred to with any respect. I am a fifty-year-old whose innocent of the crime I've spent half my life in prison for and I should get some respect. But no, I get referred to as the defendant when I've done nothing wrong! Assistant District Attorney David Waxler had the audacity to try to belittle one of my witnesses by telling the press he was embarrassed to have his name associated with hers. Had he done his job properly and not threatened my witnesses at my first trial by telling them not to tell the truth, he wouldn't even have been called in again all these years later. He threatened my witnesses along with Ronald Pina by telling them “they'd be right along side me if they didn't say exactly as they told them to”. He's embarrassed alright because he let a seventeen-year-old girl tell him what to do and he did it. It was Sunny Sparda he claimed to be embarrassed to be associated with, so does that mean he feels more superior to other human beings than her because she was a witness. She was not on trial and had the courage to call the police when Robin Murphy confessed to her about killing those girls, and didn't know if she could stop killing, which is more than I'm sure he would have done. He hasn't walked a day in any of our shoes so how dare he presume himself to be better than anyone. Judge John Connor also found Sunny Sparda's testimony to be biased because we were friends. What about the prosecutions list of witnesses, they aren't biased people when Mr. Waxler has hand picked them himself to testify for him as to his professionalism on the job.

The court then claimed Carol Fletcher was incompetent because of the medication she was on and made her look like she was on street drugs due to her lack of memory. Carol Fletcher had liver cancer and was on some serious medications. In all reality extra time should have been granted until Carol was off the medication. She's now in remission and speaks much better than she did at my hearing. At the hearing they made her sound like she was either stupid or lying because she couldn't remember the exact words that were in the affidavit she had signed. Also left out was the fact that at the start of Carol’s testimony Robin Murphy was at the window of the courtroom door staring at Carol. Knowing that Carol is petrified of her the court officers finally had to make Robin leave the courthouse while Carol was on the stand. The same night that Robin killed Karen with Carol present, Robin later climbed into Carols bedroom window at Carol's grandmothers house and told her, “we'll be questioned and you better say that both Carl's were present and that Carl Drew handed me the knife and ordered me to kill Karen”. Carol Fletcher fled to Washington State because she was afraid to testify at the first trial but the State Police found her and brought her back. She was so afraid to testify she tried to take her life by jumping out of a window. They treated it as if it were a joke and didn't care at all about Carol's health or state of mind, they forced her to testify right then. Carol Fletcher was given complete immunity for her testimony at the first trial and she told the lies that Robin had told her to say. She tried recanting and I was never even informed nor was my attorney John Birkness, unless he just never told me which could be highly likely.

Sunny Sparda was taken into a back room of the courthouse and threatened by DA Ronald Pina, assistant DA Mr. Waxler and my public defender John Birkness. Ronald Pina was screaming at her, telling her that if she said one single word to help me out that she would also be in jail on the other side of me and would lose her child. Sunny had a two-year-old special needs daughter at home with no family to help her if she went to jail. They also threatened her with the statement that they would give Carl Davis a plea bargain “so good” that he would say anything they told him to say. Her only involvement was calling the police because Robin confessed to Sunny and a friend David and asked her what she could do because she still felt compelled to killing more young women. Sunny's advice was that if she had really done it and felt no remorse and still wanted to kill more women was to turn herself into the police. So why Sunny was even being badgered is a mystery to me but she was and with my attorney present. When Sunny looked to him for help he just shrugged his shoulders. So Sunny pled the fifth because she wouldn't get up on the stand and lie, but before they took her off the stand she was screaming, "they're making me say this by scaring me, I want to tell the truth!". The Judge ordered her out of the courtroom.

Another witness, Leah Johnson had three prostitution cases pending and was also threatened with two and a half years for each case against her. They also told her that they would make sure her children were taken from her mother. So what was she to do? There was no evidence against me so they threatened three women who were very scared at the thought of going to jail for something at least two of them had nothing to do with. Please tell me where the justice is there because I surely can't find it!

It was only after the book Mortal Remains by Henry Scammel came out that I found out Attorney Birkness had never defended anyone or had ever been involved in any way with a murder trial. Doesn't that alone show how the Bristol County Legal System right from the time of appointing me an attorney was out to get me? He wasn't even known to be a lawyer. After my case he never again practiced criminal law.

If anyone is wondering why Robin Murphy picked me to do this it was all over me slapping her in the face for something she had done to my girlfriend? Your right, I shouldn't have touched her in anyway but taking my life from me is a pretty big price to pay. All over a slap, she started her web of lies.

At my evidentiary hearing the truth finally came out. Robin Murphy stated on the stand that I wasn't present at the murder for which I am imprisoned. I couldn't believe that not only did Judge Connor not grant me a new trial, but even after the truth came out, I was still being taken back to prison in shackles. Robin Murphy is a very sick person but she is also very intelligent which makes her very dangerous in my opinion. She has an I.Q. of over one hundred and thirty seven and that was when she was tested early on in her sentence. She's since then obtained an associates degree and has taken advantage of every educational benefit offered to her. She’s always used people by dangling their fear of prison or death in front of them.

The District Attorney's office worked right along with Robin Murphy. They also used Carl Davis to threaten witnesses, he would tell them if they told the truth they would get harmed by "The Cult" so not only did they lie at my trial but they also worked out there on Bedford Street prostituting and giving him all their money out of fear of being killed or imprisoned.

Robin Murphy was given complete immunity for the first two murders she committed. She received second degree murder for the murder of the third girl whose head she brutally severed. What a reward she received for killing three defenseless women.

The Justice System told her that she'd need a good story and that is how the web of lies started to spin. She accused me, someone she hated, and the system was elated with the story she was telling them. Now they could look like the grand hero's for prosecuting the man she pointed to, which was me! She swore under oath that I made her do it.

I didn't have a chance from the moment they arrested me. Yet, I believed that once I had my chance to tell my side, the truth, that I would be freed. I was aware that when one has no money for a lawyer one gets appointed to a public defender. What I wasn't aware of was the fact that some of these public defenders don't have the guts or the experience to stand up to the state. That they just do as their told. Of course I had the pleasure of getting one of those. His name is John Birkness and he was more like a public "pretender" than a defender. But when the court is paying for your defense I guess those are the odds your faced with. Honest---or Not. I received the later. Mr. Birkness went along with whatever the Justice System told him to. They threatened all of my witnesses right in front of him and he did nothing to aid me in any way at all. They (my witnesses) feared the long arm of the law and he acted as though he was afraid of them too. Well he doesn't even practice criminal law from what I've heard and he never was a criminal lawyer.

The Justice System is run as the Mafia is, think about it. The higher up on the echelon ladder you go the more connections you make. Which in turn results in more power, then more favors owed to you for the people you've helped while in the positions you've held.

Over the past twenty-five years I've had my share of lawyers. One was Attorney O'Boy with whom I finally thought I had a fair shot because he's known to be a very good attorney. Unfortunately he played by Mr. Pina's game. He even told me that he was going to like my case because he despised Mr. Pina when in fact there very good friends. So while I sat back thinking, I finally was getting my fair chance as all should receive, I was being played as if my life is a game to those who have put and kept me here. In the end Attorney O'Boy wouldn't even give me my own court transcripts when I repeatedly requested them from him. I finally found some people in here who helped me prepare the proper paperwork it takes to do a Rule Thirty. This goes to the board of overseer's and they forced Attorney O'Boy to give me back my paperwork. It took a year and a half to get back my own paperwork. All while he was attempting to hold me back from making the next move I needed to make. Another public defender, given to me by Bristol County.

After twenty-five long years I headed back into court for my evidentiary hearing in Bristol County. This time with a lawyer whom I trusted, who worked diligently for years on my case for no money. Even he was convinced with the evidence at hand and my witnesses that I would surely be set free. Here I was, an innocent man getting another chance thinking for sure that this time justice would prevail. But money and prestige were needed, two things which I had none of. The other side had their reputations to protect and didn't want the world to know that I along with my attorney and the lead detective on the case twenty-five years ago had a very compelling story to set forth.

When you start a war with the prosecutor being a star, proof doesn't mean a thing. They will not admit that after twenty-five years and the murderess they chose to believe, that they were wrong and made to look like fools, because a seventeen-year-old girl had dictated their actions and had deceived them.

With all the money they have and all their pull they'd accomplished again what they set out to do. They'd bring anyone who the people would believe to court to speak for them on their behalves. Anyone who would look honest in the public's eye was dragged into court. That's what happened when I went back to court in 2004. Once again I was not believed because of all their money and lies. All their witnesses came in all polished up and drowned out my witnesses' truths.

Even Robin Murphy confessed at her parole hearing that she in fact had been lying all along and that she had never seen me do anything wrong. She testified to the same on the stand at my hearing.

I can see why the District Attorney put up such a big fight to not even overturn this case, because it means admitting that Robin Murphy, at the age of seventeen, manipulated the Bristol County District Attorneys, Ronald Pina and David Waxler. She also lied and was believed by the Massachusetts State Policemen Paul Fitzgerald and Daniel Lowney. The last thing they want the families of the victims and everyone to know is that they were played as fools by an adolescent. My life in jail, rather than admit they were all wrong! Robin Murphy took away my freedom with her lies and the law allowed her to do it!

I truly am sorry that if Karen Marsden's family sees this and it brings up more bad memories. After all that they've already had to endure. I know they just want Karen's memory to be laid to rest, so to them my condolences and best wishes for her memory to be laid to rest. I’d also like to thank my Attorney Michael Cutler, retired police Sgt. Paul Carey, who was the lead detective on my case and Patrice who assisted Michael Cutler. They worked so diligently on my case and all for just believing in my innocence; none of my ongoing fight for freedom would even be possible without them.

Carldrewsfight.com

SEX: M RACE: W TYPE: T MOTIVE: CE/Sad./PC-extremist of young

MO: Occultist and pimp who organizad his "stable" as a satanic coven; "sacrificad" young women who displeased him.

DISPOSITION: Life without parole on one count, 1981.