NORTHAMPTON — The trial of former Pelham police chief Edward Fleury opened Friday morning with the prosecutor describing an “improperly stored arsenal” of weapons found throughout his house.
Fleury is charged with 22 counts of improperly storing a firearm. The charges originate from a Sept. 11, 2014, search of Fleury’s home for a Glock handgun, which he allegedly pointed at a friend outside the Belchertown VFW in August 2014.
Fleury was acquitted in October 2016 of an assault with a dangerous weapon charge arising from the VFW incident, as well as two counts of improperly storing a firearm.
Hampshire Superior Court Judge Daniel Ford is presiding over the current trial.
In his opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Thomas said officers who searched Fleury’s home “found weapons in almost every room of this house.”
“Many of these large-capacity weapons were not secured properly,” continued Thomas.
Thomas said that the number of firearms in Fleury’s home — more than 200 — was not the issue, but that the improper storage of “about 20 large-capacity weapons” was.
He also displayed pictures of a rifle and pistol owned by Fleury that he alleged were not properly secured.
Defense attorney Elizabeth Rodriguez-Ross, in her opening statement, wasted no time in attacking the charges against her client.
“This case was built on lies,” she said.
She said that Fleury was facing charges because he had been lured out of his house to the Pelham Police Department with a lie.
“He is here today, charged with improper storage, because the police themselves made it so,” she said.
She also noted Fleury’s extensive weapons collection, saying that he had a gun from every war in which the United States had participated.
“That’s not the problem,” she said. “He owned those guns, possessed them lawfully.”
She noted that Fleury’s wife, Jacalyn Fleury, who was removed from the house before the search, is also a licensed gun owner. Rodriguez-Ross also urged the jury to pay close attention to what they hear, including the items Fleury had on him when he was arrested.
“Does this seem a little off? Was it intentional? Was he tricked?” Rodriguez-Ross asked.
Fleury’s wife, parents and sister were present at the trial.
The first witness called by the prosecution was Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Baker, who participated in the protective sweep of Fleury’s house, and was involved with the search of the master bedroom.
He testified about finding a number of unsecured firearms, including two Beretta pistols in an unlocked case by a couch, and an assault rifle in a bag under the bed with a key in its trigger lock.
Under cross-examination by Rodriguez-Ross, Baker acknowledged that a “ruse” was used to get Fleury off the premises prior to the search. On redirection by Thomas, he said that was done for safety purposes, and gave a similar reason for the removal of Fleury’s wife prior to the search.
The next witness was Trooper Kevin Wesoloski, who also participated in the house sweep and testified that he was the first person to enter the attic. He said it was not locked.
Another trooper, Stephen Burgess, testified that he was involved in removing numerous firearms from the attic. Some of those firearms were shown in court Friday, a number of which did not have security measures attached to them when they were removed, Burgess said.
The final witness of the day was Kevin Rowell of the Greenfield Police Department. Rowell searched an office/collection room on the second floor of Fleury’s home, where he allegedly found an unlocked gun safe in a closet. Two of the firearms from the safe were entered into evidence Friday, both of which Rowell said had no additional security measures on them. Rowell also said that he assisted in removing guns from the attic.
In total, 18 firearms were entered into evidence Friday, all of which are alleged to have not been properly secured by Fleury.
In her cross-examinations of the prosecution’s witnesses, Rodriguez-Ross mostly asked questions about the other personnel involved in the sweep and how the proceedings were conducted.
The trial also saw numerous objections, most of which came from Rodriguez-Ross. While the objections to get pieces of evidence excluded were generally not successful, they did result in Thomas being admonished multiple times for leading the witness.
A request at the beginning of the trial by Rodriguez-Ross to stay the proceedings was also denied.
The trial is set to resume on Monday at 9 a.m. Thomas told Ford he expects to finish by late Monday or early Tuesday. The remaining witnesses he said he would be calling are law enforcement officers and ballistic experts.
Rodriguez-Ross anticipates calling Fleury’s wife, Pelham Police Chief Gary Thomann and Lt. Kevin Fournier of the Pelham Police Department.
“I haven’t made that decision yet,” said Rodriguez-Ross, when asked by the judge if her client would take the stand.
She said that this would depend on how it went with Thomann and Fournier. She also said that Thomann had not been cooperative.
Ford said that he expected the case to go to the jury on Wednesday or Thursday.
Fleury served as Pelham police chief from 1991 to 2009, and resigned after an 8-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed himself with a machine gun during a Westfield firearms exhibition that Fleury organized in 2008. He was acquitted of manslaughter in connection with the boy’s death in 2011.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.