The former Pelham police chief expressed relief at the verdict and sympathy for Bizilj and his family.
Edward B. Fleury, second from right, is embraced by his wife Jacqueline after a jury in Hampden Superior Court found him not guilty on one count of involuntary manslaughter and three counts of furnishing machine guns to minors stemming from an October 2008 machine gun show he organized where Christopher Bizilj, 8, of Ashford, Conn., was accidentally killed by a Micro Uzi he was shooting. His lawyer, Rosemary Curran Scapicchio, left, gets a hug from another Fleury family member.SPRINGFIELD - Minutes after the final innocent verdict was announced, Edward B. Fleury wrapped his arm around his son and hugged him.
“You were my good luck,” the former Pelham police chief told his son, Daniel, 28, who attended the two-week trial in its final few days.
Until 3 p.m. Friday, good luck had been in short supply for Fleury, whose life was transformed in October 2008 by a 4-pound machine gun and the 8-year-old boy who died shooting it during a show run by Fleury’s private gun club.
Resigning as police chief three months later, Fleury became a recluse - haunted by the boy’s death, targeted in a $4 million lawsuit, and charged in a four-count indictment with involuntary manslaughter and furnishing a machine gun to a child.
The boy, Christopher Bizilj, of Ashford, Conn., was shot in the head after losing control of a 9 mm Micro Uzi machine gun during an event billed as “The Great New England Pumpkin Shoot” at the Westfield Sportsman’s Club on Oct. 26.
Moments after being cleared on all four charges Friday, the 53-year-old former chief appeared to be staggered by his sudden good fortune. At the request of his lawyer, Rosemary Curran Scapicchio, he was allowed to remain at the defense table for a few minutes as the courtroom cleared out.
Before the verdict, the defendant’s supporters sat in the third row, with Daniel Fleury clasping the hand of his mother, Jacqueline. When the first innocent verdict was announced, she began to sob quietly; by the fourth, she was shaking. “Oh, thank God,” she said.
Christopher’s family sat across the aisle, in the back rows. Once the verdict was read, they left the courtroom quickly.
When Fleury emerged from the courtroom, he expressed relief at the verdict and sympathy for the boy and his family.
“I want to thank God for giving me back my life,” he said, adding that he will never sponsor gun shows again. “That’s a chapter of my life that is over,” he said.
Referring to his 27-month legal ordeal, Fleury said, “I’d rather be dropped into hell than go through this again.”
Fleury said he was so grief-stricken about the boy’s death that he was unable to sleep for several months.
Ruling out a return to law enforcement, Fleury said he seeking God’s guidance in considering career options. “I’m thinking about nursing,” he said.