Stolen property conviction thrown out; SJC rules police unlawfully entered apartment.

• Author: Murray, Gary V.
• Position: Local

Byline: Gary V. Murray

WORCESTER -- The state's highest court vacated a Leominster man's conviction on receiving stolen property charges Tuesday after finding that police entered the suspect's apartment unlawfully.

In a nine-page ruling written by Judge Ralph D. Gants, the state Supreme Judicial Court vacated Conan Gentile's Nov. 9, 2011, Worcester Superior Court convictions on two counts of receiving stolen property and ordered that the case be remanded to the Worcester court for dismissal.

Mr. Gentile, 42, was sentenced to 3 to 5 years in state prison on one of the charges and received a consecutive 21/2-year jail sentence, suspended for 3 years with probation, on the other. He was given credit for 428 days he had spent in custody awaiting trial.

The jury found him not guilty on three additional counts of receiving stolen property and two counts of unlawfully possessing a firearm or ammunition.

The police observations that gave rise to the charges occurred on June 24, 2010, when a state trooper and three Leominster officers went to Mr. Gentile's home at 429 Mechanic St., Leominster to arrest him on two default warrants for motor vehicle offenses that had been issued out of Fitchburg District Court.

According to the SJC decision, Trooper David Napolitano knocked on the back door of the apartment about 9:30 a.m. and a teenage girl answered. After the trooper said he had a warrant for Mr. Gentile's arrest, the girl's mother, Maura Stanley, approached the door and told the trooper Mr. Gentile was not there.

Trooper Napolitano later testified at a hearing on a motion to suppress evidence in the case that Ms. Stanley glanced toward a partially open bedroom door while denying Mr. Gentile's presence in the apartment. The trooper said he heard "movement'' in the apartment, told Ms. Stanley he believed Mr. Gentile was there, and walked past her and into the apartment.

He said he then entered the bedroom, where he found Mr. Gentile. After noticing the butt end of an antique musket sticking out from under the bed, the trooper said he handcuffed Mr. Gentile and asked him whether there were any other weapons in the apartment.

Mr. Gentile said that there were no firearms, but that there was a knife on the dresser. As he was removing the musket from under the bed, Trooper Napolitano said he noticed three firearm cases, two of which contained shotguns. Mr. Gentile said the guns were not his and he did not know where they had come from.

Although Trooper...