NORTHAMPTON — The trial of a former Pelham police chief accused of improperly storing firearms is set to begin Friday morning in Hampshire Superior Court.
Edward Fleury faces a total of 22 charges of improperly storing a firearm. A 23rd count was previously dismissed.
Police found the guns when they executed a search warrant at Fleury’s home Sept. 11, 2014, in an effort to locate a Glock handgun he allegedly pointed at his friend outside the Belchertown VFW Post in August 2014. Fleury was acquitted in October 2016 of charges of assault with a dangerous weapon and two counts of improper storage of a firearm stemming from that event.
Opening statements by Fleury’s attorney Elizabeth Rodriguez-Ross and Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Matthew Thomas will begin at 9 a.m.
The trial is expected to last four days. A total of 21 prospective witnesses have been named including 13 Massachusetts State Police Officers.
Fleury served as Pelham police chief from 1991 to 2009, but resigned his post 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.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated.
Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.