Swift Northern Justice

Above, Joseph F. Krowski, Jr., Esq. at Norfolk Superior Court, Thursday afternoon.

Brendon Owen, the man charged in the beating death of his ex-wife in Franklin in 2022, after numerous delays and the work of three different defense attorneys was supposed to finally go to trial on Dec. 15. However, his new attorney's request for a continuance to a later date was granted and yesterday afternoon in Norfolk Superior Court yielded not a trial but a brief conference.

That conference was dominated by the booming voice of Owen's fourth attorney, Joseph F. Krowski, Jr., Esq., whose X profile describes him as a criminal defense attorney trial attorney and television legal analyst.

Krowski told the judge, Sharon E. Donatelle, Associate Justice for the Massachusetts Superior Court, that he had engaged the services of a famous and respected Harvard expert on brain injuries, that as new counsel he still had 'tens of thousands of pages' of documents to go through and that he needed another extension -- of 60 days, "because if I come back in 30 days I am just going to tell you the same thing."  That date will be for a pretrial conference, he suggested

Prosecutors were not happy and practically begged the judge to bring the matter to trial, noting that the family of the victims have been waiting for more than three years for justice.

However, with some reluctance, the judge approved Krowski's request, setting the date for the next court date for Owen for May 8.

Krowski also asked the court to approve payments to him equivalent to those provided for the public defenders. Krowski noted that Owen had previously been declared indigent, qualifying him for those payments. It was not clear whether Krowski was planning to otherwise represent Owen on a pro bono basis or whether someone else is now paying for Owen's defense.

Owen, was present via Zoom on Thursday afternoon but was not visible on courtroom monitors. The defendant's only action was to acknowledge his presence at the start of the conference.