Suspect in Revere cop shooting sentenced up to 12 years in prison

REVERE – A key figure in the murder trial of Revere Police Officer Daniel Talbot was sentenced Wednesday to a dozen years behind bars after pleading guilty to an accessory charge.Derek Lodie, 19, was sentenced to 8-12 years in state prison for his part in the 2007 slaying, according to Jake Wark, spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley.Judge Patrick Brady sentenced Lodie after taking his guilty plea in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham.Prosecutors say Talbot and other Revere officers were socializing near the high school athletic field when Lodie exchanged words with them. A friend of Lodie’s then allegedly shot the officer.Lodie’s lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr., said Lodie remains “mystified” that a group of adults who were drinking and “taunting” him were police officers.The plea was the first major development in the Talbot case since December 2007 when Lodie and three other Revere residents charged in connection with Talbot’s death were indicted by a grand jury. Robert Iacoviello pleaded innocent to murder and firearms charges and James Heang and Gia Nagy pleaded innocent to accessory to murder charges.Iacoviello, Heang and Nagy are scheduled to go on trial in Suffolk Superior Court Jan. 4.Prosecutors and police said Iacoviello went to the Revere High School parking lot at about 1:30 a.m. Sept. 29, minutes after Lodie, who was 17 at the time, “got into a verbal altercation” with Talbot, officers Stacey Bruzzuse and William Soto and Talbot’s fiancé, Constance Bethel.The officers gathered at the bleachers with Bethel and police Sgt. Evan Franklin for what prosecutors described “as a couple of beers.”Lodie called Iacoviello on his cellular telephone and Iacoviello arrived accompanied by three friends and carrying a semi-automatic handgun.As Iacoviello and his companions crossed the parking lot headed to the ball field, police said Lodie resumed “taunting and yelling at Officer Talbot and the others.”Soto saw a muzzle flash, then saw Talbot draw his weapon and fall to the ground. Iacoviello, Lodie and their friends ran in the direction of True Street.Prosecutors said Iacoviello subsequently tried to destroy the gun but police in the days after the shooting recovered pieces of it from storm drains on Cushman Avenue and matched them to spent shell casings found at the shooting scene.Franklin, who fled the shooting scene, was fired in April 2008. He initially challenged the firing before withdrawing his legal claim in August 2008.Bethel spoke at the sentencing, describing for the court how she was at Talbot’s side as he took his final breaths.