The state Supreme Judicial Court has denied a Marshfield man’s request for a new trial more than 40 years after he was convicted of murder in the death of a Cohasset Golf Club manager.
The lawyer for defendant William McDermott, who was a maintenance worker at the club, argued for a new trial on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct, inadequate jury instructions and sentencing that constituted cruel and unusual punishment.
McDermott was 17 in November 1981 when he shot Robert Kemp 11 times with Kemp’s nine-shot revolver, according to the opinion written by Associate Justice Frank Gaziano. Kemp’s body was found fully clothed in a ditch near the 18th green with his pockets turned inside out and his wedding ring, gold watch and wallet missing.
Police found Kemp’s car at a burned-down church in Marshfield, about 2 miles from where McDermott lived with his parents. In McDermott’s bedroom, police found bloodstained jeans, underwear, shoes and a jacket. McDermott was later arrested at his sister’s house in Pennsylvania.