LAWRENCE — Following a mistrial in December, a judge on Wednesday denied bail to Lawrence cold case murder suspect Marvin “Skip” McClendon Jr., 76, who is from Bremen, Alabama.
McClendon is charged with killing Melissa Ann Tremblay, 11, of Salem, N.H., in Lawrence on Sept. 11, 1988.
The case was cold for more than three decades until prosecutors in April 2022 said DNA found under Tremblay’s fingernails linked McClendon to the girl’s murder.
Defense attorney Henry Fasoldt sought his client’s release on $50,000 bail with court imposed conditions while McClendon awaits a retrial this fall.
He said McClendon was a veteran who did not pose a flight risk or danger to the community and that the state’s murder case against him was “weak” and “circumstantial.”
Fasoldt has said McClendon has not been convicted of a crime and expressed concern his client would be behind bars for 2½ years before he goes on trial again.
But Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Karp, who presided over the murder trial in December, denied the bail request. He said McClendon could not be properly supervised if he returned to Alabama and that he had didn’t have ties to Massachusetts.
Fasoldt noted McClendon, a retired Massachusetts Department of Corrections officer, lived in Massachusetts in the past, however.
But Karp, referring to the trial in December, noted that McClendon has a brother who lives in Athol, Mass., who testified against him as a prosecution witness.
“There is too much at stake,” Karp said during a hearing Wednesday in Newburyport Superior Court.
McClendon will remain held at Middleton Jail as a result Karp’s ruling.
He has a home in Alabama down the road from his sister, Rebecca Greenwood, who is his primary social support, Fasoldt said previously. Greenwood attended the trial in December.
McClendon suffers from a number of chronic health conditions and requires daily medication including blood thinners, medication for gout, and diuretics. He used a walker in court during the trial.
His retrial is scheduled for Sept. 30 with jury empanelment first and then testimony to start in mid-October.
Tremblay was murdered in South Lawrence near the LaSalle Social Club on Andover Street.
On Sept. 11, 1988, Tremblay’s stabbed and beaten body was found in a South Lawrence railroad yard.
The girl was known to play in the neighborhood while her mother and her mother’s boyfriend frequented the social club. She was last seen alive by a railroad employee and a pizza delivery driver, authorities said.
Tremblay’s mother has since died.
After more than a week of testimony from detectives, crime lab workers, relatives and others, the prosecution rested its case on Friday, Dec. 15.
Among the prosecution witnesses were retired State Trooper Kenneth Kelleher and Lawrence Police Detective Thomas Murphy, the original murder case detectives from 1988.
State Police Lt. Peter Sherber, who most recently investigated and went to Alabama to question McClendon and his relatives, also testified.
Daniel Hatch, who was a 13-year-old homeless boy in 1988, also testified he saw Tremblay sitting on the front steps of the LaSalle Club that day with an area man named Michael Therrien. He said the two later walked across Broadway to the State Street area where they met up with another man.
On Monday, Dec. 18, Fasoldt called three defense witnesses, all doctors with backgrounds in DNA or forensics.
McClendon did not testify in his own defense.
Jurors deliberated for 29 hours but remained deadlocked. A mistrial was declared by Judge Karp on Dec. 27.
Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter/X @EagleTribJill.
By Jill Harmacinski [email protected]
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