Murder in Massachusetts

The Jury Speaks

On May 23, 2006, twelve jurors and four alternates began deliberations.

The jury must have obviously paid close attention to the case as it was tried, because within a day, on May 24, they found Patricia Olsen guilty of, believe it or not, first-degree murder.

As Patricia looked on in total disbelief, Lori Levinson cried. What had gone wrong? How could a jury find a woman guilty of first-degree murder on the testimony of an admitted murderer, his disgruntled, former drug-using sister and her convict boyfriend?

Immediately after she was found guilty, Patricia was sentenced to serve life at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution (for women) in Framingham, Massachusetts, located just outside of Boston, about a two-hour drive from Lanesborough.

MCI Framingham, Massachusetts front gate

In June 2006, Christopher Robinson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Yes, the man who fired seven gunshot wounds into Neil Olsen's head, beat him to a pulp with a metal pipe, stole his money, went to see a movie and shopped at the local mall, had managed to get the Berkshire County District Attorney's office to agree that a second-degree murder charge was fair punishment.

Some argued Christopher had cut a deal. While David Capeless defended his position, saying that he offered Christopher no such thing.

Regardless, Christopher Robinson was given a life sentence—which, by Massachusetts standards for second-degree murder, entitled him to a coveted spot in front of the parole board in fifteen years, so he could argue, perhaps, how much he had turned his life around and found God while in prison.

Outrageously, it was possible that the man who had murdered Neil Olsen could be walking the street of Lanesborough in fifteen years.