HollyMatkinBoston, MA – A gang member who murdered a Revere police officer in 2007 will walk out of prison as a free man in just three years, the slain officer’s family learned in court on Thursday.
Off-duty Revere Police Officer Daniel Talbot, 30, was shot in the face by now-30-year-old Robert Iacoviello Jr. in the presence of Officer Talbot’s fiancé, and his fellow off-duty officers on Sep. 29, 2007, the Boston Herald reported.
In court, Assistant Suffolk District Attorney Edmond Zabin said the officer and his friends were socializing and drinking beers on the bleachers at a ballpark behind Revere High School at approximately 1:30 a.m. the night of his murder.
That was when Officer Talbot noticed another gang member, Derek Lodie, in the area, according to the Boston Globe.
The off-duty officer then made “disparaging remarks about the Bloods,” Zabin explained, so Lodie made a phone call to one of his friends, claiming that someone in the officer’s group had “flashed a hammer,” which was a slang term for a gun, and that he thought they might be members of a rival gang.
A group of Lodie’s gangster friends, including Iacoviello, went to the ballpark to buck up their friend, Zabin said.
Officer Talbot approached the group as they arrived, and Iacoviello opened fire.
Another officer who witnessed the murder said that Officer Talbot drew his weapon and “assumed a firing position” before he was fatally shot, but that he did not have time to return fire, Zabin said.
Zabin noted that there was no evidence to indicate that Iacoviello knew Officer Talbot was a law enforcement officer.
Iacoviello was convicted of second-degree murder in 2010, and was sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 15 years, the Boston Herald reported.
The victory was short-lived.
In 2016, an appeals court tossed the conviction, and determined that the trial judge failed to instruct jurors that they could consider whether or not Iacoviello acted in self-defense, the Boston Globe reported.
Instead of retrying the case, prosecutors struck a plea agreement with Iacoviello on a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.
On Thursday, he pleaded guilty to the understated offense, and was sentenced to just 14 years in prison. After applying credit for the time he has served since October of 2007, Iacoviello will walk out of prison a free man in 2021.
When Suffolk Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Locke asked the murderer why he was pleading guilty, Iacoviello’s lack of remorse for anyone but himself was clearly evident.
“Because I’m guilty,” he responded. “I kind of want to put this behind me.”
Officer Talbot’s brother and former fiancé lashed out at the injustice of the short sentence during the hearing.
“What you did cost me my brother,” an infuriated Paul Talbot told Iacoviello, according to the Boston Herald. “The fact that the court is even considering a manslaughter case for a cop-killer is absurd to me and I just don’t understand it.”
“We get nothing from this,” the officer’s brother continued. “The fact that you might get out in two years is insane to me, and I beg the court to not take this offer. It’s not fair to me and not fair to my family.”
The slain officer’s former fiancé, Connie Dussault, said that Iacoviello’s plea wasn’t enough.
“Dan was only 30 years old when he was murdered,” Dussault told the court. “He was just starting his life. The fact that Robert Iacoviello will be free and have more years on the outside of a jail cell than Dan had on this earth just makes me so angry.”
Through her tears, she told the court that her “last vision” of her fiancé was him “gasping for air while I held his hand, telling him to be strong and that I loved him,” the Boston Globe reported.
Iacoviello’s attorney, Jonathan Shapiro, touted his client as a model inmate, and said he had no history of infractions while in custody.
“We hope that everyone involved will go forward with peace and understanding of this resolution,” Shapiro said at the hearing.
“Everyone but Dan Talbot,” Judge Locke responded.