The lawyer representing two Attleboro religious sect members who are in jail for refusing to cooperate with a Juvenile Court judge has rejected an "immunity deal" from the district attorney, saying it is no such thing.
David P. and Rebecca A. Corneau cited fear of being prosecuted for illegal disposal of a body if they told Judge Kenneth P. Nasif what became of the remains of a fetus the Corneaus said was miscarried in November.
After Nasif jailed the couple for refusing to bring a live baby to court or say where the remains are, Dist. Atty. Paul F. Walsh Jr. issued a "letter of non-prosecution," saying the Corneaus will not face illegal disposal charges if they cooperate with Nasif.
"The Corneaus have not been offered immunity as the law of Massachusetts requires," their lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr., said in a statement yesterday. "A 'letter' from a prosecutor, as opposed to immunity granted by a judge, is meaningless and just a publicity ploy by the district attorney. It changes nothing."
The couple are scheduled to be in Nasif's courtroom again Thursday. To get out of jail, they must either bring a live baby to court with them or say where the fetal remains are, Nasif told them last week.
Last month, Nasif ruled that Rebecca Corneau had a baby in November or December. He based that ruling, in part, on testimony from neighbors who said they saw Corneau apparently in labor as several family members helped her into a van.
Last Tuesday, as Nasif was about to send them to jail for failing to provide the baby to the court as is required in certain custody cases, the Corneaus said they did not have a baby, that Rebecca Corneau suffered a miscarriage.
Nasif said that, without further evidence, such as finding the fetal remains, he could not believe the Corneaus' testimony. When they refused to provide that evidence, Nasif ordered them to jail.
The Corneaus filed an emergency appeal with a single justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court the same afternoon they were jailed.
As of yesterday afternoon, no action had been taken in that appeal.
Meanwhile, three other members of the insular sect face trial in the death of another sect baby, Samuel Robidoux. The boy's parents, Karen E. and Jacques D. Robidoux, face murder charges, and his aunt, G. Michelle Mingo, is charged with being an accessory to an assault on the boy. The parties in that case are expected to submit pretrial motions this month, to be heard on March 4. A trial date is expected to be set then, too.