Denis Piper - Kid./Assault/Batt. Woman & 2 kids 3/07
Trial date set in kidnapping case By Kristen Bradley/ Daily News Staff Wednesday, March 8, 2006 CAMBRIDGE -- The pair accused of kidnapping two children from a Marlborough home in November, sparking a statewide AMBER alert, will stand trial in Middlesex Superior Court next year. Denis J. Piper, 43, and Cathy Trotta, 37, both of Lynn, will stand trial Jan. 22, 2007, Middlesex Superior Court Judge Geraldine Hines said yesterday. Piper, who recently posted $35,000 bail, appeared briefly in court with his lawyer, Mark Wester. Trotta, who remains held on $100,000 bail, was not brought in from jail for the appearance. Both are due back in court April 18. Wester and prosecutor Kate MacDougal said little in court. Yesterday, Piper said he has been treated well by the court system and has no complaints other than what he called inaccurate media reports about the incident. "I believe in the judicial system, and I believe that I’ve been treated fairly thus far," he said before saying the police reports have been more accurate than the media. Authorities allege that on Nov. 7 Piper and Trotta beat Marlborough’s Rebecca Borey and tied her up and kidnapped her 3-year-old son, Christian, and her foster daughter, 5-year-old Grace. Grace is Trotta’s biological daughter -- although she doesn’t have custody -- and Borey and her husband, Chris, are Trotta’s aunt and uncle. In the past, Trotta has told Hines that she suffers from bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder and takes multiple medications to keep her stable. Trotta has already undergone more than 40 days of a court-appointed mental health evaluation at Worcester State Hospital. In the end, she was found to be both competent and responsible, according to Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley’s office. Trotta and Piper face kidnapping, armed assault and battery and other charges after the midafternoon attack on Borey in her Pleasant Street home. Authorities say Borey was tied to a chair, a knife was held to her throat and she was beaten with a billy club. The duo then stole Borey’s car and snatched the two children. The incident sparked a statewide AMBER Alert. Within hours, Christian, 3, was dropped off in Malden. A short time later, Trotta was tracked to a hotel at Logan International Airport. With her was 5-year-old Grace, who police found hiding in a zipped-up suitcase. (Kristen Bradley can be reached at 508-490-7463 or kbradley@cnc.com.) http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=123891&format=&page=2

Sample of DNA ordered: Suspects charged in Marlborough incident comply, #0-3020 By Kristen Bradley/ Daily News Staff Wednesday, July 19, 2006 CAMBRIDGE -- The Lynn couple charged with snatching two children from the lawn of their Marlborough home last year were ordered to give DNA samples yesterday in Middlesex Superior Court. Cathy Trotta, 37, and Denis J. Piper, 43, submitted blood and saliva samples to the court at the request of Suzanne Kontz, an assistant district attorney with the Middlesex district attorney's office. Kontz filed a request for DNA samples earlier this month. Included with her motion was documentation of evidence seized from the Pleasant Street home where the kidnapping occurred in November. Investigators lifted DNA from inside the vehicle authorities say Trotta and Piper used as a getaway car. DNA was also found on other items used, including duct tape, a plastic bag, a knife, rope, a billy club and a tape measure. Yesterday, Judge Ernest Murphy granted Kontz' request and Trotta and Piper's samples were taken immediately. Piper's attorney, Mark Wester, said opposing the request for DNA would have been futile. "The appellate courts of Massachusetts have decided this issue and have decided that it's not a violation of your rights not to incriminate yourself. The ruling is pretty much the law of the land." Trotta's attorney, Anthony Rozzi of Haverhill, had filed a motion earlier this month, seeking to have the home invasion charge against Trotta dismissed. Rozzi presented his argument yesterday. Murphy took it under advisement. Both are due back in court Jan. 3 for a final pretrial conference. Their trial has been scheduled for Jan. 22. Both face charges ranging from kidnapping to armed assault after police said they beat Marlborough resident Rebecca Borey and tied her up before snatching her 3-year-old son, Christian, and her 5-year-old foster daughter, Grace. Grace is Trotta's biological daughter and Borey and her husband, Chris, are Trotta's aunt and uncle -- a relationship with a troubled past. The Boreys have legal custody of Grace. On the afternoon of Nov. 7, authorities say Rebecca Borey was tied to a chair, a knife was held to her throat and she was beaten with a billy club. Trotta and Piper then allegedly took the Boreys' car, put the two kids in the back seat and took off, sparking a statewide Amber Alert. Within hours, Christian was dropped off in Malden. A short time later, police tracked Trotta to a hotel at Logan International Airport. With her was Grace, who police found in a zipped-up suitcase. Trotta, who suffers from bipolar disorder and post traumatic stress disorder, was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation shortly after her arrest last year. She was ruled competent to stand trial. (Kristen Bradley can be reached at 508-490-7463 or kbradley@cnc.com.) http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=135794

Kidnapping charges may end in plea deal By Galen Moore/Daily News Staff Wednesday, January 03, 2007 - Updated: 10:45 PM EST MARLBOROUGH - The kidnapping trial of Denis Piper and Cathleen Trotta is likely postponed until at least March, and may never happen at all, after attorneys today agreed to postpone the final pre-trial hearing until Feb. 21. Assistant District Attorney Suzanne Kontz asked Superior Court Judge Geraldine Hines to push the trial date "a few months out," to make time to discuss the possibility of a plea bargain. "Both counsel have approached me about resolving this case before trial," Kontz told Hines in a Cambridge courtroom, today. "I want to sit down with the family members before I sit down with counsel." The case, originally set to go to trial Jan. 22, will now be postponed until some time after the Feb. 21 date, unless attorneys for both sides successfully come to a pre-trial agreement that is acceptable to the court. Trotta and her one-time boyfriend, Piper, stand accused in the November 2005 kidnapping of Trotta's biological daughter, Grace Trotta, then 5 years old, from a home in Marlborough. The two allegedly entered the home of Grace's foster parents, tied up and beat the child's foster mother, and kidnapped Grace and the foster family's biological son, who was three at the time, making their getaway in the foster family's SUV. The incident initiated a statewide Amber Alert, and both children were reunited with the Marlborough family on the evening of the same day. Kontz also said the district attorney's preparations for the trial have been delayed due to problems with DNA evidence obtained from Piper and Trotta last July. "There was a little snafu with respect to DNA evidence," she said. "Some items didn't get filed in the lab." She did not elaborate. The hearing originally scheduled for today was intended to be a "lobby hearing," in which both sides could informally sound out Hines' reactions to possible arguments, said Trotta's defense attorney, Anthony Rozzi. Rozzi said it is not unusual for a pre-trial date to be rescheduled in a case of this magnitude. "This will be the first postponement in this case. It's not irregular or abnormal at all," he said. "You have schedules made well in advance, so (new) information is bound to come up." Neither Piper nor Trotta was present in court today. Trotta was held on $100,000 bail at MCI-Framingham prison, and a court order that would have enabled her to attend was cancelled. Piper called just before court was in sesson, to say he was en route via bus, the court clerk said. By the time the hearing was over, he had not arrived. Piper's attorney, Mark Wester, was not present, either, but the court clerk said he had consented to the postponement before the hearing. Galen Moore is a MetroWest Daily News staff writer. He can be reached on 781-398-8004, or gmoore@cnc.com http://www.townonline.com/homepage/8999026875409891327