Figure in Crusading Juror Trial Faces Prison in Another Case
Former Boston police officer Albert F. Lafontaine will be sentenced June 27 following his conviction last week on two counts of extortion and one count of larceny, Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Hiller Zobel said Monday.
Lafontaine had been the chief witness in the 1988 conviction of Carlos Montilla, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic found guilty of selling drugs and carrying an illegal weapon.
A juror in that case, Linda M. Cox, was convinced that Montilla was innocent and waged a crusade to win his freedom. Through her efforts, new evidence was uncovered. Montilla was freed from prison last March and granted a new trial, his third on the same set of charges.
The 45-year-old former police officer’s conviction was unrelated to the Montilla case. He was found guilty of demanding a $10,000 payment from two suspected drug dealers.
Lafontaine could receive up to 35 years in jail.
Montilla’s third trial is scheduled to begin Thursday.
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