Cowans found dead, circumstances unclear

L.J.Steele · Post by **L.J.Steele** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 1:38 pm

http://www.patriotledger.com/articles/2 ... news01.txt

Body found in Randolph: Remains said to be man wrongly convicted of shooting Boston cop

RANDOLPH - The body of a man who spent 6½ years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of shooting a Boston police officer was found in the new home he bought this year on a quiet street near the Randolph Community Middle School.

There was no official confirmation, but a girlfriend and a cousin said the dead man was Stephan Cowans, who was in his late 30s.

***

Cowans’ body was found Thursday afternoon in the four-bedroom, two-story colonial he bought this year at 5 Walter Seyfert Way, a cul-de-sac across the street from the Randolph Community Middle School athletic fields.

The Norfolk County district attorney’s office declined Thursday night to identify the dead man as Cowans or to say whether the man had been murdered.

Michele · Post by **Michele** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 3:19 pm

From the article:

‘‘He was a good guy,’’ said Cowans’ cousin, who asked that his name not be used. ‘‘He had no enemies. He wasn’t into drugs or anything. He was just trying to do the best he could in life.’’

I thought it was reported late last year that said he was arrested on drug charges. Does anyone remember if that happened (or was that someone else)?

L.J.Steele · Post by **L.J.Steele** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:21 am

More on Cowans:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articl ... n_randolph

Unspecified legal issues are mentioned, but I couldn't find a reference to Michele's question about a drug arrest.

Pat A. Wertheim · Post by **Pat A. Wertheim** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:39 am

Drug arrests would be irrelevant. Lots of good and decent people have addictions or weaknesses (maybe we all do, in one sense or another), or get adventurous and "experiment."

The bottom line is that he got screwed in that shooting conviction by virtue of an erroneous identification. I would say he probably deserved better out of life than he got.

Rest in peace.

Outsider · Post by **Outsider** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:29 am

A similar tragedy:

"Sally Clark dies"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6460595.stm

Convicted on a bad statistic, but even if it had been right there would be no certainty that she was guilty.

Michele · Post by **Michele** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 1:26 pm

Pat,

I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any disrespect to him and I certainly didn’t mean to imply that he deserved anything bad to happen to him. I was just surprised that the people who knew him seemed so surprised. If he did take drugs then there’s the possibility that it was an overdose. Many people who take drugs either have drugs or large amounts of cash on them (making them a target for criminal activity). When you hang around a certain environment or if you lead a certain life style then your odds of bad things happening to you are significantly increased. That’s all I meant.

Someone found the article for me in Jon Stimac’s Dactylogram, http://www.pnwdiai.org/pdf/DG%20Vol01%20No11.pdf