Defense:
A bail hearing was held on 6/4/26 at Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River. CPCS Innocence Program Director Lisa Kavanaugh presented a compelling and compassionate motion for release Hearing on Brian’s behalf. Attorney Kavanaugh began with a reference to the recent decision to overturn the conviction offered by Judge Daniel O’Shea citing newly discovered scientific evidence presented at the recent evidentiary hearing which “wholly contradicts the Commonwealth’s theory about Christopher’s cause of death.”
In further support of the motion, Attorney Kavanaugh spoke at length about Brian’s family ties, friends, and extensive community support. She motioned to the court the 20+ supporters in the courtroom not only today but at every court appearance. “[Brian] has maintained close and loving relationships with all of his family members.”
Attorney Kavanaugh offered an inspiring narrative of Brian’s positive character, and an impressive, extensive record of education, programming, accomplishments and acts of community service. She cited his lack of criminal record and exemplary history as an incarcerated person noting that he has distinguished himself as a well-respected leader within the prison.
Despite having a specific learning disability, Brian earned valedictorian honors with his GED in 2000. He went on to graduate magna cum laude from Boston University, receiving a Bachelor of Liberal Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies. Brian was the first incarcerated person to be invited into BU’s National Honor Society, Alpha Sigma Lambda.
From the time of his arrest 30 years ago, Brian has steadfastly maintained his innocence and has consistently and tirelessly fought to overturn his conviction. He is “deeply committed to clearing his own name.” Brian’s decades- long fight has been validated by the motion judge’s decision overturning his conviction and granting him a new trial. This “in and of itself underscores the depth of his commitment to obtaining a full exoneration and illustrates why he has every incentive to return to court if granted the opportunity to be released.”
Prosecution:
In his opposition, the prosecutor misstated facts and pushed a false narrative not supported by the record. The state continues to use the same strategy in offering graphic, dramatic statements to evoke emotion and outrage through the media. In just a few examples, the prosecutor
1. reasserted the state’s theory of motive that Brian beat Christopher to death because he was angry that he had wet his pants. In 1997, the prosecutor presented her only theory of motive 65 times during the trial.
• Demonstrably false. Retired Westport Fire Chief Brian Legendre was a paramedic for WFD in 1996. He was the first medical professional to examine and treat Christopher the night Brian and Sneed brought him in unresponsive. Legendre submitted an affidavit for the defense and testified at the evidentiary hearing in August that Christopher’s diaper was “completely clean and dry.”
2. reasserted the state’s theory that Brian fled the hospital to avoid being blamed.
• Demonstrably false. Hospital chaplain, Deacon Michael Murray, told police that he heard Sneed ask Peixoto to take Tarissa to her sister’s house and stay there with her. In his statement, the Deacon also specified that he heard hospital security/WPD Mario DaCunha tell Brian to leave before the biological father arrived.
• The Deacon was not the only source of this contradictory account of Brian’s departure. In a statement, Steve Morton also told police that Sneed approached him at the hospital on the night of January 22nd and said “that when they [Sneed and Brian] got to the hospital, she asked [Brian] to take Tarissa.
3. reasserted the state’s theory that Christopher was “fine all day.”
• Demonstrably false. Sneed herself testified that Christopher work up “wobbly.” She stated that while getting ready in the morning, Christopher was “in a drunken state” which she further described as “wobbly” and that he was “acting like a real stumbly-butt” and that he had done it before. Despite being on the road to bring Christopher to daycare, she changed her mind because he was lethargic.
• Steve Morton who was present in the home with Brian and Christopher during the day corroborated Brian’s testimony as he also witnessed Christopher’s presentation that day as dizzy, lethargic, wobbly, stumbling and falling down stairs.
Perhaps the most important fact is the one missing. During the discovery process prior to the evidentiary hearing, Brian’s defense team learned that the current Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth, Dr. Renee Stonebridge told the prosecutor that she disagreed with her predecessor’s determination of homicide as the mechanism of death and that if she was conducting the autopsy herself, she would rule the mechanism of death as undetermined.
The judge is taking the matter under advisement.