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Above, Defense Attorney John Morris and Judge Peter Krupp.
Tuesday afternoon, in the hot and stuffy Courtroom 25 at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, after several other matters were heard by Judge Peter B. Krupp, it was the turn of Brendon Owen, who last went before a judge on Feb. 3, 2025. Except Owen wasn’t there, just his third court-appointed defense lawyer, John P. Morris, and the prosecution team from the Norfolk County DA’s office.
At most of his court appearance, Owen, who has been held since Dec. 2021 in the murder of his ex-wife, Shirley Branco and an assault on his mother in law as well as arson of the home he formerly shared with Branco in Franklin, he has appeared via Zoom from the Norfolk County Jail. February 3 was one of the few exceptions, but he spent most of that session arguing with the judge on why he should have been allowed to appear remotely and much else beside.
In February, Judge Beverly Canonne, made clear that his next appearance, yet another pre-trial hearing, would need to be in person. But another matter, namely the Karen Read trial, got in the way forcing the court to move his original May 30 to July 15.
And, at that point, it was time for a new judge (at least the third in the matter), Judge Krupp. And he was puzzled and not happy with the situation he found himself with on Tuesday. “What’s going on,” he asked of both the defense and prosecution? Both responded with more or less simultaneous responses that were essentially laments….The prosecution indicated it was waiting for a determination of whether Owen can be charged with criminal responsibility, given what attorney’s on both sides seem to suspect is something less in the defendant.
For his part, Morris lamented that the expert he had hired to evaluate Owen went to the County Jail and Owen simply refused to meet, leaving the matter up in the air.
But Krupp was unmoved, again noting that nearly three years have passed. He pressed the lawyers to get the last preliminaries out of the way in one more hearing and then set a date for the trial.
Again both prosecution and defense looked at each other in dismay and then explained to the judge that they are already involved in multiple murder trials that are currently in process.
The ultimate upshot was that the next pre-trial hearing has been set for September 24 and a trial for Dec. 15. Then, perhaps, Franklin and the victim’s family will be able to get a measure of closure.
