By Julie Manganis
MIDDLETON — Prosecutors say it's just a typo made by a usually reliable court stenographer.
But the lawyer for a man charged with helping set up the robbery of a plowing contractor at the Sheraton Ferncroft golf course last January said it's far more serious than that — and suggested that it could lead to dismissals of dozens of other cases.
Two men were charged in the heist: Darin Bufalino of Winthrop, who was once extradited from Ireland to face murder charges that were later dismissed on procedural grounds, and John Viera, who served time for manslaughter.
During a hearing yesterday in Salem Superior Court, a lawyer for Viera said the case should be dismissed because during a grand jury proceeding, one grand juror was quoted in the transcript as saying, "I live in Revere."
Public defender Lawrence McGuire argued that it means an "unauthorized" person served on the grand jury that heard the case earlier this year, tainting the entire proceeding.
Revere is in Suffolk County; the law requires that grand jurors come from the same county where the case originated. If a judge were to find that someone from outside the county served on the grand jury, it could lead to motions to dismiss cases against others indicted by the same grand jury last winter.
But the line in the transcript should have read "I lived in Revere," according to a letter from the stenographer to the district attorney.
Prosecutor Jessica Connors handed Judge Timothy Feeley, a corrected page of the transcript, a copy of the stenographer's letter and an affidavit from the prosecutor who supervises the grand jury presentations.
She said there's no evidence the grand juror was improperly hearing cases.
When Feeley asked McGuire whether the corrected transcript essentially wipes out his argument, McGuire said he wants to put the stenographer on the witness stand and cross-examine her during a full evidentiary hearing. He called the appearance of a corrected page after he filed his motion "certainly suspicious."
Feeley suggested that at worst it might amount to a technical violation that does not rise to the level of dismissing the case.
The judge did ask Connors to obtain a certified copy of the new pages before he rules.
It's not clear in what context the juror's comment was made. Both Bufalino and Viera have ties to the Revere and Winthrop area, and the murder case for which Bufalino was extradited from Europe happened in Revere.
Feeley is expected to rule on the request by Jan. 12, when Viera is due back in court.
