Contato: Nathan Lederman 508-584-8120
BROCKTON – The state Appeals Court has affirmed the convictions of a man who brutally attacked a Brockton woman in her own home, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz announced today.
In August, 2016, Brian Vines, 51, was found guilty of Assault, Armed Assault with Intent to Rob a Person 60 Years or Older, Assault and Battery on an Elder Causing Serious Bodily Injury, Armed Robbery, and Aggravated Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon. On May 12th, the state Appeals Court affirmed Vines’ conviction and additionally, denied his motion for a new trial.
“I applaud our state Appeals Court for their work on this matter, and I’m grateful to them for keeping Brian Vines in prison, where he belongs,” DA Cruz said. “Vines spent decades preying on vulnerable women and the community is far safer with him incarcerated.”
On June 4, 2013, Brockton Police responded to a 911 call from a woman reporting that she had been attacked in her home on Brookfield Drive. Upon arrival, police found the female victim in her 60s, badly beaten and lying in a pool of blood in her kitchen. The victim, who had been beaten and stabbed multiple times, including a slash to her throat, told police she had been attacked by Brian Vines, who attended school with the victim’s sons, but whom the family had not seen in many years. In further interviews with police, the victim stated that Vines arrived at her home and asked for her son’s phone number. When she turned around to give him the number, the defendant put her in a chokehold, put a gun to her back and demanded she give him all of her money. When Vines learned that the victim only had $2 in cash to give him, he demanded her ATM card and PIN number. Vines then used a weapon to beat the victim in the
head and eye area repeatedly. After she fell to the floor, he stabbed her several times in her back and slit her throat. Vines then left the woman for dead on her kitchen floor and locked the door behind him. He was arrested the following day in Raynham after police linked him to debit card use. DNA testing confirmed the victim’s blood was present on Vines’ shirt, shorts and sneakers.
On Appeal, the defendant claimed that the trial judge abused his discretion by not excusing a juror for cause and that defense counsel was ineffective for not using a peremptory challenge. The Appeals Court disagreed, concluding that there was no error where the trial judge took special pains to determine that the juror in question was impartial.
The Appeals Court additionally ruled that the prosecutor did not make any errors in their closing argument and that the judge who re-sentenced the defendant after the trial judge retired properly effectuated the trial judge’s sentencing correction.