White River Junction, Vermont - April 30, 2010
There is no disputing the fact that Kyle Bolaski, 26, shot and killed Vincent Tamburello in the summer of 2008.
Tamburello was a native of Boston but family members say he moved to Vermont to start anew.
"Vinny was a good kid. He wasn't the best kid. He had problems like everybody else but he chose Vermont to make his life," said his father, Vincent Tamburello Sr.
What is in dispute is why the shooting occurred. It happened in a ball field in Chester. Bolaski says Tamburello was chasing him with an ax because of an argument that spilled over from a day earlier.
"The state has to prove that his actions weren't in self-defense and the overwhelming evidence is that they were completely in self-defense," said Kevin Griffin, Bolaski's lawyer.
It's a defense that a grand jury agreed with, finding there was not probable cause for a murder charge. But because multiple charges can be filed before a verdict in any case, prosecutors re-filed a second-degree murder charge. They did not offer any new evidence, only saying that the evidence offered the first time around was not properly presented, and most significantly, that Tamburello was shot twice-- the second time hitting him in the back as he tried to get away.
"And then tries to run away and is then shot in the back and killed. That is grand jury testimony," Franklin County Deputy State's Attorney John Lavoie said. "Now tell me how a grand jury listens to that and doesn't find probable cause for second-degree murder?"
Bolaski pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder Friday.
Tamburello's family says that just the fact that the new arraignment happened, is in a way justice in the case.
"This should have been done at the very beginning," Vincent Tamburello Sr. said. "It's not that there is no new evidence, it's that this is the evidence that they have had all along that they haven't worked with."
Unlike last time around, the new charges will not be presented to a grand jury. Instead this case is expected to go straight to trial sometime this August.
Adam Sullivan - WCAX News
Related Stories:
Bolaski Pleads Not Guilty to Manslaughter
Springfield Man Charged with Manslaughter
Murder Charges Dropped, Shooting Was Self-Defense
Autopsy Raises Questions About Self-Defense Claim
When is Homicide Self-Defense?
Was Chester Shooting Self-Defense?
