A Massachusetts man who served 14 years in prison for the death of his pregnant fiancee in 2007 is back in jail, now charged with killing his Foxborough roommate.
Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Jillian Bannister said that Stephen Gomes was found dead under a bed in his apartment on July 6 with “significant and multiple fractures” to his face and other signs of head trauma, WBTS reports.
Bannister said Friday at the arraignment for 42-year-old Taylor Hurst that Gomes’s SUV fled a traffic stop on the day he was found dead but that surveillance footage appeared to show Hurst driving the vehicle.
Hurst’s attorney, Anne Iglehart, said in court she had “concerns about Mr. Hurst’s ability to appreciate … the process that’s happening right now, due to his medical condition,” but she did not elaborate.
Hurst,was arrested last week outside Boston City Hall and allegedly admitted getting into a fight with Gomes. He was charged with murder and ordered held without bail, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette said.
Hurst pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2008 to strangling Katherine MacDougall to death a year earlier in a plea deal requested by the woman’s family. Hurst said he was regularly smoking crack at the time of the murder, but her family said they believed he loved her and requested that he not face trial for first degree murder.
He was sentenced to 18 to 20 years in prison and was released in October 2022 with credits for time served and good behavior in prison.
Hurst is due back in court on September 17.
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