Talbot trial will begin on Monday after more than two years of preparations

Journal Staff Report

After more than two years of waiting, the murder trial of Revere Police Officer Daniel Talbot will begin Monday, January 4, at Suffolk Superior Court in Boston.

The process of jury selection will commence at 9 a.m. on Monday in Courtroom 815. Judge Patrick Brady will preside over the trial.

At this point, there are only two suspects left out of the original four who were charged.

Robert Iacoviello Jr. faces murder charges and is Talbot’s alleged shooter. His attorney, Peter Krupp, has been doing yeoman’s work over the past two years to assemble thousands of pages of materials to mount a defense against a prosecution team that is very confident in their case.

The other defendant, James Heang, faces charges of accessory to murder after the fact.

The two other defendants, Derek Lodie and Gia Nagy – who both faced accessory charges, made plea deals recently admitting their guilt. Lodie is serving a sentence of 8-12 years and Nagy is serving one to two years.

In the trial, there is expected to be three key witnesses, including one Revere young man who – at the outset of the investigation – signed a cooperation agreement with the prosecution and then was placed into the witness protection program. He allegedly stayed in Las Vegas for nearly 10 months.

At least one other youth has allegedly made a witness cooperation agreement. All three key witnesses, though, have extensive criminal records and are expected to testify at trial. From court records, it is believed by both sides that they will provide the concrete testimony that strengthens the case for the prosecution.

Additionally, the prosecution has collected some DNA and ballistics evidence. That physical evidence has been met with serious criticism from the defense in pre-trial discussions – with Iacoviello even hiring a DNA expert from California.

The DNA evidence was a new revelation in the case just last summer when State Police Forensics experts re-tested evidence and came up with one definitive finding on a rubber glove allegedly used in the process of destroying the murder weapon. However, that finding showed the DNA profile of a female, and not a male.

Iacoviello’s attorney has been adamant that the DNA evidence be carefully considered given that even the state experts said most of it was inconclusive.

All in all, the trial will be the moment that so many police officers, family members and community members have been waiting for in hopes of getting some solid answers about what happened on Sept. 29, 2007.

Talbot was killed on that night behind Revere High School while he, his fiancée and three other off-duty police officers drank alcohol and socialized on the bleachers near the baseball field.

By many accounts, Talbot and other officers started the confrontation that led to violence. Just what happened during that moment when gunfire interrupted a quiet, late summer night behind the high school has been the source of numerous conflicting accounts.