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May 21, 2009

Jury finds man not guilty of gun charges

By Julie Manganis

SALEM — A Peabody man who is suspected of being a member of the Latin Kings street gang has beaten gun charges that were filed after police suspected he'd shot his own foot.

Alfred Cochrane Jr., 24, of 115 Lowell St. was found not guilty by a Peabody District Court jury Tuesday of carrying a firearm without a license and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling — in this case inside an apartment at 11 Boston St. on Feb. 7, 2008.

Cochrane was charged after his downstairs neighbor reported that a bullet had come through his ceiling and landed on the bed just a few feet from where he was sitting. At around the same time, Cochrane was at Salem Hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound to his foot.

Cochrane told police at the hospital that a car had fallen on his foot as he changed his tire. Police noted that there was a hole in Cochrane's Timberland boot that corresponded with the wound on the side of Cochrane's foot, and medical records indicated that the wound came from a gunshot.

But without the actual gun, which was not found, prosecutors were unable to convince jurors that Cochrane had actually shot his own foot or that he ever had a gun in his possession.

Cochrane's defense raised the possibility that someone else had pulled the trigger.

Cochrane, who was released from custody after the verdict, showed up yesterday at Salem District Court to attend a hearing in a pending gun case involving his younger brother, Adam Cochrane, 20, who is also believed by police to be a member of the Latin Kings.

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