Man gets new trial after 36 years in prison for murder

A Massachusetts man who has spent 36 years in prison for a murder he says he didn’t commit has won a new trial.

Frederick Weichel was convicted in the 1980 killing of Robert LaMonica.

A judge overturned LaMonica’s conviction Monday, finding that authorities failed to give the defense a police report suggesting another possible suspect.

Convicted gangster James “Whitey” Bulger wrote letters from jail several years ago claiming he knew Weichel didn’t kill LaMonica.

Bulger said a friend of Weichel’s told him he was afraid because he had beaten up a man in a fight and the man’s friend, LaMonica, was promising retribution.

Bulger said he told the man to “get him first, kill him.”

A spokesman for Norfolk County prosecutors say they’re disappointed and are reviewing the case.

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