In August 2011, weeks before he was to testify against Hall, David Glasser and his roommate, Edward Frampton, and their friend Robert Chadwell, all of Pittsfield, disappeared.
SPRINGFIELD — Jurors in the Berkshire triple murder trial of Caius Veiovis on Wednesday heard a state forensic pathologist testify three men were dismembered by multiple chopping and hacking wounds.
Dr. James Pokines said that means a sharp implement is used with force. He could not identify any particular instrument used, just the class of instrument.
The prosecution rested its case Wednesday. On Thursday the defense is expected to call four or five witnesses, with none of the testimony to be very long.
Hampden Superior Court Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder has said closing arguments will be Friday.
In August 2011, weeks before he was to testify against Adam Lee Hall, David Glasser and his roommate, Edward Frampton, and their friend Robert Chadwell, all of Pittsfield, disappeared. Their dismembered bodies were found in Becket 10 days later.
Hall, 36, of Peru; David Chalue, 46, of North Adams, and Veiovis, 32, of Pittsfield, kidnapped the three victims from Frampton's Pittsfield home sometime in the early hours of Aug. 28, 2011, and fatally shot them, according to prosecutors.
Both Hall and Chalue were found guilty in separate trials of three counts of first degree murder and are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Pokines said most "dismemberment sites" on the bodies of David Glasser, Edward Frampton and Robert Chadwell showed multiple impacts, with one location having at least 25 impacts of chopping.
The dismemberment was not done by a sledgehammer, saw or axe, he said.
Pokines said he can't tell by looking at the bones if the injuries were before death or after death.
Pictures of sections of the men's bones were put up on the large screen in the courtroom and Pokines went through each.
In one, Glasser's bone near the shoulder is shown with chopping trauma from two directions and fragmentation of the bone.
Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless showed Pokines an illustration found in Veiovis' apartment which Pokines said appears to depict amputation of bones.
Under cross-examination by defense lawyer James G. Reardon Jr. Pokines agrees amputation is different than dismemberment as amputations are done for medical reasons.
The illustration appears to come from a medical book, Pokines said.
Special agent Eric Perry of the FBI's cellular analysis team said he examined cell phone records of Veiovis.
Perry said on Aug. 28, 2011, there was very little use. There were two outgoing calls, one at 1 p.m. and one at 8 p.m. There had been no calls from midnight to 1 p.m.
As to calls between Hall and Veiovis there was one on Aug. 26, none on Aug. 27 and 28 and "limited activity" between the two phones on Aug. 29.
Perry said some people take batteries out of their phones so they can't be traced.
State Police Lt. David Brian Foley, head of the detective unit assigned to the Berkshire District Attorney's Office, testified about a comment he heard Veiovis make when he was arrested in this case.
Foley went to the Pittsfield police department around 7 p.m., about three hours after Veiovis and Chalue were arrested.
Foley had Veiovis brought from the holding cell to to meet with him.
Foley said he told Veiovis he wasn't going to ask him any questions but said he should listen to him.
He told Veiovis they found the bodies so he now faced murder charges.
Foley said he told Veiovis in multi-defendant cases such as these somebody always talks so Veiovis should cooperate.
He told Veiovis Hall had offered to set up the Hells Angels clubhouse for the FBI the year before. Foley said Hall was "a rat."
Foley said Veiovis said, "I didn't do anything. I'm not a rat."
Veiovis was taken back and placed back in the cell number eight, while Chalue was in cell five.
Foley testifed he heard Veiovis say "words to this effect" to Chalue: "Hey, you hear what they're saying about our partner. They're saying he's a stoolie."
Under cross-examination from Reardon Foley agreed the information about that overheard statement was not provided to the defense until about a week ago after the trial started.
The information was in a search warrant application from January 2012, but that was not provided to the defense by the prosecution until last week, he said.
Foley also testified he and many other officers searched David Casey's Canaan, N.Y., property on Sept. 19 with a cadaver dog looking to see if they found "a bloody crime scene." They did not, he said.
Casey has testified for the prosecution in the three trials, saying Hall threatened his family so he had to help Hall bury the remains of the three men. He has three counts each of accessory to kidnapping, accessory to murder and accessory to intimidation of a witness pending.
