Free Republic

METHUEN - The Lawrence Marine who fired a shotgun into a crowd of noisy clubgoers in Lawrence last year wants to buy the shuttered Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church on Union Street. Daniel Cotnoir, a mortician, would turn the three-building campus - a church, school and convent - into a funeral home, he said. Cotnoir, 34, lives above his business, the Racicot Funeral Home at 256 Broadway in Lawrence. He wants to sell the building and leave Lawrence, calling the city unsafe. "Considering the fact that the Police Department cannot or will not protect my family, as soon as...

Salem - A jury deliberated just two hours on Thursday before finding an Iraqi war veteran and former Marine of the Year acted in self-defence when he fired a shotgun into a group of club-goers outside his home, injuring two people. The jury acquitted marine sergeant Daniel Cotnoir, a 34-year-old reservist, of two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in the shooting last August. Cotnoir had rejected an earlier plea deal. He could have faced up to 20 years in prison. He stood stoically and showed no emotions as the verdicts were read. Prosecutor John Dawley urged...