Lawyer says he will fight bid for DNA of British man accused in wife and baby death

The defense attorney for a British man accused of fatally shooting his wife and baby daughter says he will oppose a prosecution motion for a DNA sample from his client.

Photo: Lawyer says he will fight bid for DNA of British man accused in wife and baby death

Elliot M. Weinstein said Tuesday he will fight the request at a pretrial hearing for Neil Entwistle on Thursday, The Boston Globe reported.

Weinstein declined to say why the state wants the DNA sample, and why he will fight the motion he said was filed last week by the Middlesex District Attorney's office. He has entered pleas of not guilty for Entwistle.

The motion was sealed by Superior Court Judge Peter Lauriat.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office also declined to comment to the Globe.

A police affidavit filed after Entwistle, 27, was arrested in the slayings of his wife Rachel, 27, and their 9-month-old daughter, Lillian Rose, said investigators found his DNA on a .22-caliber pistol he is accused of using to kill them on Jan. 20. Police said Entwistle secretly took the gun from his father-in-law's home in Carver and returned it there after the killings.

Joseph Flaherty, a spokesman for Rachel Entwistle's family, said he did not know why prosecutors are seeking the DNA sample. Rachel's mother and stepfather, Joseph and Priscilla Matterazzo, plan to attend the hearing Thursday, he told the Globe.

Neil Entwistle was the focus of intense international news coverage when it was discovered he left the Boston area for his native England at about the time his wife and daughter were found dead together in bed at their home in Hopkinton. He was arrested in London on Feb. 9 and voluntarily returned to Massachusetts to face murder charges, reports AP.

No date has been set for his trial.