Scumbag Springfield DA Francis Bloom got this guy a life sentence with no possibility of parole


SPRINGFIELD — Twenty-seven years after being arrested for the fatal shooting of Victoria Seymour, Mark Schand has been granted a new trial.
Victoria Seymour was 25 years old when, as an innocent bystander to a drug-related robbery and shooting, she was fatally shot in September 1986 outside the former After Five lounge at Central and Rifle streets.
Schand, the Hartford, Conn., man serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for her fatal shooting, has always maintained his innocence.
His wife, Mia Schand, testified at his 1987 trial that he was with her at her beauty salon in Hartford the night Seymour was shot.
“God has given me the strength for the 27 years,” Mia Schand said Friday.
She visited Schand, 21 years old when he was arrested, in state prison every week during his incarceration, she said.
Friday she got to hug her husband when he was released in the courthouse, and it looked like they would never let go of each other.
Schand told the large group of family and friends it felt good to have a second chance, but it should not have been necessary since he didn’t do anything wrong.
Asked what he would say to Seymour’s family, Schand said, “I’d like to tell them I had absolutely nothing to do with this crime. I’m sorry for their loss.”
Hampden Superior Court Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder heard testimony over several days in August and September on Schand’s motion for a new trial.
On Friday, he granted Schand’s motion for a new trial. Kinder said he did that based on the recanting of an identification of Schand by Anthony Cooke, and the new evidence presented by Tracy Fisher, Randy Weaver and Martin Smith that Schand was not at the After Five that night.
Kinder said that constituted newly discovered evidence showing justice may not have been done.
There have also been recantations in the past from other identification witnesses.
Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni on Friday filed a document saying he does not oppose Schand’s motion for a new trial.
Mastroianni told Kinder he also didn’t oppose a request from John M. Thompson and Linda J. Thompson, Schand’s lawyers, to have Schand released on his own recognizance. Schand will be living in Connecticut.
Mastroianni said he will review the case before deciding whether to proceed with the prosecution.
Kinder scheduled a status report on the case for Oct. 17.
Schand’s battle has been waged by Linda and John Thompson, the husband and wife veteran lawyers who have been trying to get Schand a new trial for well over 20 years saying he did not have a fair trial.
They said prosecutorial misconduct on the part of then-Assistant District Attorney Francis W. Bloom and former District Attorney Matthew J. Ryan Jr. resulted in a false conviction.
About three years ago, Centurion Ministries Inc., an innocence project, became involved in Schand’s case. Investigators for Centurion developed what the Thompsons argued was compelling new evidence Schand was innocent.
Richard Hepburn and James C. McClosky, executive director of Centurion Ministries, located and interviewed many of the key living witnesses who testified for the prosecution in the 1987 trial. They also located five witnesses whom neither the prosecution or defense previously interviewed.
Centurion Ministries, founded in Princeton, N.J., in 1983 by McClosky, has as its purpose to work with lawyers to obtain relief for falsely convicted defendants. It raises and disburses the funds required to meet all legal, investigative and administrative costs necessary.

Cooke, in his new testimony at the motion to dismiss hearing, said Bloom met with him and he came out of that meeting believing if he identified Schand as the shooter at the 1987 trial he would get help on his own breaking and entering case.

He said he was released on own his recognizance the same day he met with Bloom, and after Schand was convicted of Seymour’s murder he was given probation on the breaking and entering.

Fisher, Weaver and Smith - all of whom knew but were not necessarily friendly toward Schand - said they came to Springfield from Hartford the night of the slaying and Schand was not there.
“My family stuck by me,” Schand said. “The day I got cuffed up, I had a woman by my side. Twenty-eight years later, she’s right here. I don’t know if that’s normal. I still can’t fathom that.”
In addition to numerous family members - including Schand’s mother Gertrude Jones and sisters - Schand shared long hugs with Linda Thompson and John Thompson, and McClosky and Hepburn.
He said the Thompsons never gave up on him, and McClosky and Hepburn through investigation found the evidence necessary to get him a new trial.
“I’m feeling a little special right now,” he said.
Schand is the father of Kiele Schand, 28; Mark Schand Jr. 27; and Quinton Schand, 26; and he has four grandchildren.
Mia Schand is stepmother to Kiele and Mark Jr. She was pregnant with Quinton when Schand was arrested.
While waiting for his father to be released Friday morning, Quinton said his mother Mia took him to see his father in jail, then prison, every week after he was born.
When Quinton, whose wife and 5-month-old child Londynn were with him Friday, got his driver’s license, he could go see his father alone.
Mark Schand Jr. said his mother began taking him to visit his father when he was a baby. When he got older, he and his brother Kiele would go stay summers with their stepmother Mia and brother Quinton and they all would visit Schand with her.
As a child he was shielded from what had happened, but when he was 10 years old or so he realized his father was in prison for something he didn’t do, Mark Schand Jr. said.
“It hurt us all immensely,” he said. But on every prison visit, his dad was cheerful and hid whatever difficulties he was feeling.
“It’s basically like he raised us from inside prison,” he said.

I started law school in Boston the same month when this poor guy was arrested. The DA seemed certainly more interested in getting a conviction than seeing that justice was done.

I applaud the steadfastness and courage of his wife, standing by her husband's side for 27 years while he was charged, tried, convicted, and incarcerated. He was denied a life; she was denied a husband; and their kids were denied a father.

Beyond ridiculous, and quite scary when you consider the reckless ambition of a overzealous DA who'll settle for any scalp even in a potential life sentence case

I think the DA's should be held accountable and have to pay a price that is unfair, send them in to gen pop with the people they locked up, what a fucking scumbag.

When I first practiced criminal defense out of law school, I dealt with a D.A., who angered the public and police force more than once because he dropped charges or reduced charges because he felt unsure of the facts even though he could very well have obtained a conviction. I was naive at the time and assumed this was the norm, rather than the exception.

It's a career thing for these guys every time, so like I said they will settle for any man's life in prison if it means they add another win under theyr belts. Pure Skum.

Reminds me of the film The Hurricane which is a true story..

That guy is very strong for making it 27 years, I doubt I'd be that strong to do 27 years and live thinking I got to spend more there without ever getting out.