Convicted embezzler freed pending appeal in Massachusetts

A 59-year-old Grafton Street woman has been released from custody pending an appeal of her Oct. 26 conviction for bank embezzlement.
Susan Carcieri of 521 Grafton St. was sentenced to 4 to 7 years in state prison Nov. 1 after a Worcester Superior Court jury found her and her husband, George Labadie, guilty of staging an Aug. 27, 2002, robbery at the Wyman-Gordon Federal Credit Union on Grafton Street, where Ms. Carcieri worked, and making off with $210,000 in stolen money.
Judge Peter W. Agnes Jr., who presided over the couple's trial, allowed a motion yesterday asking that Ms. Carcieri's sentence, which she began serving Nov. 1, be stayed pending an appeal of her conviction to the state Appeals Court.
Her lawyer, Leonard J. Staples, argued in a brief in support of his request for a stay that the court's denial of his motion for a mistrial during jury deliberations constituted a “meritorious” issue on appeal.
The request for a mistrial was made after the foreman of the deliberating jury reported to the judge Oct. 25 that she had been approached over the previous weekend by someone on Mr. Labadie's behalf at the diner where she worked. Judge Agnes excused the juror and replaced her with an alternate juror. He also revoked Mr. Labadie's bail.
The jury was instructed to begin its deliberations anew and rendered its unanimous verdicts the next day.
Mr. Labadie, who was sentenced to 10 to 12 years' imprisonment, remains in custody. He is also appealing his conviction.
Mr. Staples argued that Ms. Carcieri met the criteria for a stay of her sentence pending appeal in that she did not pose a risk of flight or further criminal conduct and had raised an issue worthy of presentation to an appellate court.
Prosecutors opposed the request.