Accused murderer of two Boston doctors pleads not guilty, held without bail

[May 09, 2017]  By Scott Malone

BOSTON (Reuters) - An attorney for a Massachusetts man accused of slitting the throats of two doctors in their Boston penthouse entered a not guilty plea on his behalf at a bedside hearing at the hospital where he is recovering from gunshot wounds sustained during his arrest, authorities said.

Bampumim Teixeira, 30, of Chelsea, Massachusetts, was ordered held without bail while awaiting trial on charges of murdering Richard Field, 50, and Lina Bolanos, 38, Suffolk County prosecutor's spokesman Jake Wark said in a statement.

District Attorney Daniel Conley said his office has not yet determined what Teixeira's motive was but that he did not know the victims and that a bag filled with jewelry was found in the apartment.

Conley also said an earlier statement by police that he had opened fire on officers was incorrect. Teixeira did not fire on the officers and did not have a firearm on him, he said.

The officers were responding to a call about an armed robber and mistakenly thought Teixeira pointed a weapon or fired a weapon in a dark hallway inside the apartment where the couple was tied up and slain, Conley said.

Police also found what Conley said could have been a replica handgun or pellet gun, adding that the gun was in a backpack.

Field sent a friend a text message that alerted police to the break-in, Conley said.

Prosecutor John Pappas (L) reads as Judge Michael Bolden (R) takes notes as 30-year-old suspect Bampumim Teixeira is arraigned on two counts of murder in his hospital room at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Massachusettes, U.S., on May 8, 2017. REUTERS/David L. Ryan/Pool

Field and Bolanos were engaged to be married.

Teixeira was minimally responsive during Monday's hearing at Tufts Medical Center, according to a video of the proceedings posted by local media.

Teixeira recently was released from prison after serving nine months for bank robbery.

(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.