By Jesse Roman
Staff writer
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SALEM — A judge yesterday dismissed the case against the Marblehead police officer charged with making threats to kill his wife.
Christopher Adkerson, 41, of Lynn did not specify whom he was going to kill Aug. 5 when he allegedly told his wife "he was going to kill himself" and that he would "take them, too," Boston defense attorney Thomas Drechsler argued in a motion to dismiss.
Judge Robert Brennan agreed, ruling yesterday in Salem District Court that, "There was no probable cause as to the element of conveying any threat to an intended victim."
"We're very pleased with the judge's decision, and my client looks forward to moving on with his career," Drechsler said yesterday after the case was dismissed.
Adkerson, who has been a full-time officer in Marblehead for nearly a decade, was taken off duty when the charges were filed. It's not clear if or when Adkerson will return to work. Marblehead police Chief Robert Picariello could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The charges were filed after Adkerson's wife walked into the Beverly police station on the evening of Aug. 5 and reported that her husband had made threats after she told him that she wanted a divorce. After receiving the news, Adkerson told her he would kill himself if she left him, and that he would "take them, too," which she believed to be a reference to her and their daughter, his wife told police. However, when she asked him whom he meant, Adkerson allegedly told her, "none of your business."
Adkerson told Beverly police her husband had recently been hospitalized at BayRidge Hospital in Lynn because of similar suicidal threats, then returned to duty a week later.
She also told police that Adkerson's behavior had been erratic in recent years, with mood swings between "sweet and loving" and "unstable and angry." The estranged wife also said, however, that her husband "has never laid a hand on (her) or has never beaten (their) daughter," according to a police affidavit filed with the court.
Although Drechsler does not dispute that Adkerson said he would kill people, "his statement does not rise to the level of criminal conduct," the attorney wrote in his motion to dismiss.
Adkerson "never expressed an intention to harm Mrs. Adkerson," Drechsler wrote. "There is no evidence that (Adkerson) communicated his intention to the person or persons targeted or intended that it be communicated to those targeted in order to cause fear or apprehension."
In other words, what Adkerson allegedly said is not "a threat as contemplated by this statute," Judge Brennan said.
