Four helicopters bristling with television cameras hovered above the courtroom
where Neil Entwistle, a 27-year-old electrical engineer from
Nottinghamshire, was about to face charges that he cold-bloodedly shot dead
his American wife and nine-month-old baby.
The car park was filled with a dozen satellite TV vans. More than 200
reporters and cameramen jostled at the entrances of the modest Framingham
district court building in Massachusetts. Few people paid much attention
to Elliot Weinstein, who sat in the sunshine in dark glasses with his legs
crossed, revealing a pair of hand-stitched black cowboy boots. Yet this
previously little-known defence attorney is on his way to becoming one of
the most famous lawyers in America.
As the man charged with defending Entwistle, Weinstein will play a leading
role in the most talked-about case in Massachusetts since Louise Woodward,
the British nanny, was accused of shaking a baby to death nine years ago.
One local opinion poll last week found that 79% of Massachusetts residents
already believe Entwistle is guilty of killing his wife Rachel, 27, and
their baby Lillian, despite his protestations of innocence. Outside the
courtroom there were cries of “You sick animal” and “Baby killer, you suck”
as a Middlesex county sheriff's van drove by with Entwistle inside.
A few miles down the road a scrawled sign pinned to a telegraph pole read:
“Entwistle, you’re a dead man.” On radio chat shows, the verdict on
Entwistle, who moved to America last year, was near-unanimous. If he was
innocent, call-in listeners claimed, he would never have fled to Britain
without first calling police after he claimed to have discovered his wife
and child dead in bed. The fact that he voluntarily returned last week had
little impact on the revulsion provoked by a police announcement that
Lillian died from a pistol shot to the stomach. Her mother died from a shot
to the head. “I am certain that anybody [watching television or reading
reports about the Entwistle case] has already formed an opinion with respect
to Mr Entwistle’s guilt,” Weinstein said last week. “I don’t know that he
will ever be able to get a fair trial."
It was the opening move in a defence that is already provoking intense
speculation in Massachusetts legal circles. The questions in every
lawyer’s mind are the ones that have dogged the US judicial system since O J
Simpson was acquitted of murdering his wife in Los Angeles. Can prosecutors
ever be confident that their case is strong enough for conviction? Even
though the evidence against Entwistle appears damning, are there flaws that
the defence can exploit? Is it possible that Entwistle might be found not
guilty, or at the very least earn a reduced sentence? As speculation raged
yesterday a further twist emerged: it was reported that Entwistle had been
put on suicide watch in custody.
Entistle, son of a Labour councillor on Bassetlaw district council, is
remembered as one of the highest achievers in his year at Valley school,
Worksop, Nottinghamshire. His name is on an honours board in the school
hall. He left to study electronic engineering with business management at
York University, where he met Rachel in the rowing club. She was an overseas
student on a placement.
“The boat club was a bit of a breeding ground for relationships, with romance
popping up all over the place, but few lasted as long as theirs,” said Owen
Rodd, a former president of the club. “I am absolutely staggered by
everything I have heard. I would never imagine that somebody like Neil or
Rachel could end up in such horrible circumstances.”
Entwistle returned to his old school with Rachel, introducing her as “the
person I’m going to spend the rest of my life with”. They moved to America
last autumn to be closer to her family and because Entwistle had told her
his working-class accent was a barrier to success in England.
Yet his accent was hardly a factor in what police affidavits claim was
Entwistle’s main business activity. He operated several internet companies
selling computer software and promoting get-rich-quick schemes. He also
traded through eBay, the online auction house. Prosecutors claim
Entwistle’s internet activities were bogus and that he was earning minimal
returns from a series of scams that either involved selling pirated software
or were related to pornography.
One of his eBay offerings promised a “10 minute secret to becoming a
millionaire fast”, apparently based on “a loophole in the world banking
system”. He also sold a guide to “making $20,000 a week” from an unspecified
internet business which featured a picture of six naked women.
By mid-December last year Entwistle’s life was beginning to unravel. An eBay
account he ran was suspended after buyers complained they had paid without
receiving goods. Despite the financial trouble, the couple settled last
month in the classic New England town of Hopkinton, an hour’s drive west of
Boston, in what appeared to be a happy advance in their pursuit of the
American dream. They rented a four- bedroom home set in a small,
family-oriented development surrounded by woods and near a country club.
Entwistle paid $8,100 in certified cheques for a three-month lease, but
bought thousands of dollars’ worth of furniture with credit cards. He also
used cards to pay a $500-a-month lease on a BMW X3 sports utility vehicle.
According to court documents there were other credit card debts in England.
Rachel also owed more than $18,000 in student loans. When her mother,
Priscilla Matterazzo, worried about the couple’s finances, Rachel told her
that Entwistle had plenty of money but it was tied up in “offshore”
accounts. Prosecutors say that Rachel may not have known about her
husband’s internet activities. Her mother and her stepfather, Joseph
Matterazzo, told police that Entwistle had led them to believe that he had
“some sort of secret government job in England”. That revelation drew
derision in the US media last week. “If he was really James Bond and
carrying out a secret mission, then perhaps the British government should be
paying the $1m cost of his trial,” joked Howie Carr, a Boston radio
commentator.
