Christmas in Brenda Meede’s home will be more joyful this year.
The grandmother — who adopted her daughter’s two children — was told by a juvenile court judge Monday she won’t be forced to bring the kids to the Bristol County Jail to see their dad anytime soon.
The father, Martin McDonald, is accused of killing Meede’s daughter, Julie, in January of 2016. He’s pushing for visitation rights, as the Herald reported Saturday, but the case was continued to Jan. 21, 2021.
“I’m so relieved. This gives us a break over the holidays,” Meede said Monday. “It makes him wait, for a change. Let him see what it’s like to wait.”
McDonald was 35 years old when authorities say he beat and stabbed his 34-year-old estranged wife to death inside her Norton apartment on Jan. 27, 2016. Police said they encountered four screaming children at the scene who saw it all as the family sat down for dinner.
Brenda Meede, 63, stepped in and adopted two kids; others took custody of the two other young witnesses.
The Bristol DA’s office said the trial was first set for November 2018, then May 2019, then June and now January. A series of events — from McDonald firing attorneys to tests and reports delayed — pushed back the case. It’s doubtful a jury trial will be held in January, as the coronavirus keeps spreading. April is the new target date.
McDonald’s lawyer did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Herald.
Attorney Wendy Murphy, a victims’ rights advocate, is representing Meede and just won a motion from a superior court judge to speed up the trial — once juries are called back. But that won’t be until Jan. 8 at the earliest, the Trial Court ruled Friday.
“I’m overjoyed we’re a priority again,” said Meede, who added “thanks to Wendy.”
Murphy said suspects have a constitutional right to a speedy trial under the Sixth Amendment, but so, too, do victims.
“It’s called Prompt Disposition Rights,” Murphy said. “I fought for it in 2001 before the SJC for a rape victim. It’s been proven that victims cannot begin to heal until the case is over.” Now Meede has been awarded the same right.
Murphy said defendants who push for visitation rights in such horrific cases as this one often use it as a tactic to bargain for a plea deal.
“They try to gain leverage,” Murphy said. “But he does not deserve a discount or visitation rights. All this is doing is causing my client a lot of distress.”
Brenda Meede’s daughter was punched and stabbed repeatedly by McDonald, according to police. It appears he may be setting up an insanity defense.
Murphy said once the pandemic lifts, we’ll find out because this case is now “at the top of the list” to go before a jury.
