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Drug addict convicted of killing elderly South Boston woman for her money
By adamg on Fri, 10/09/2015 - 12:11pm
A Suffolk Superior Court jury today convicted Timothy Kostka of first-degree murder for the stabbing death of Barbara Coyne, 67, on April 16, 2012, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.
The verdict means an automatic sentence of life without parole.
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Easy case
Couldn't have left more evidence if he tried.
In a cruel twist of irony, his twin brother (who's been on this site before for refusing to submit a DNA sample related to this case) is now charged with vehicular homicide for killing man on Quincy Shore Drive, right outside the new residence of THIS victim's son, the one who found her dying after this crime.
Pretty shitty genes in those twins.
Um.....
Since when is 67 elderly? 67 is the new 54.
The legal definition used by
The legal definition used by the Department of Elder Affairs is any person who is 60 or over.
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleII/Chapter19a/Section14
Old ages
Bet that age was specified a century ago.
No, it was 20 years ago!
The statute cited above is not part of the applicable general law regarding crimes against the person. Here is the correct link for Chapter 265 (the statute that covers "crimes against the person," from assault and battery to rape to murder). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIV/TitleI/Chapter265/Sect...
In 1995 Chapter 265 was amended to include a specific charge of assault and battery on a person over 60 or disabled. It was probably all those Baby Boomers in their 40s back then who changed the law.
With the 'elderly' title comes a lot of freebies
subsidies, and discounts. Stop whining.
What?
Who's whining? This is what is wrong with communicating over the internet.
No such thing as automatic sentence
There's no such thing as an "automatic" sentence, nor is a conviction a sentence. There are mandatory sentences, however, which do not allow for judicial discretion. In Mass, murder in the first (meaning that pre-meditated intent or extreme atrocity has been shown beyond a reasonable doubt, according to a jury verdict) carries a mandatory sentence of life without parole (LWOP).
What is automatic, in any such conviction, however, is a "mandatory appeal".
Kind of a semantic difference, no?
You're right: He was not whisked instantly out of the courtroom to a cell at Cedar Junction to serve out the rest of his sentence - he still has to go before a judge to be sentenced. But, by law, the judge has no choice, no leeway: He or she HAS to sentence him to life without parole (after victims get to say their piece). It's all kind of automatic.