Opinion ID: 199606
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Defendant's Personal History

Text: 3 Defendant Peter Nedd is a thirty-eight year old man with a history of mental illness such as manic depression and schizophrenia, both of which were diagnosed in 1989 when he was living in Boston and hospitalized for a brief time. 4 While a resident of Boston, Nedd attended the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah Witnesses in Cambridge. There he met the Carpenter family, Richard and Andrea Carpenter and their daughter Chantelle. Nedd became obsessed with Chantelle, desiring her romantic affection. Nedd would call the Carpenters' house repeatedly requesting to see Chantelle and would send Chantelle gifts. His attention was unreciprocated. Richard Carpenter became especially concerned with Nedd's behavior when, in 1996, Nedd falsely claimed that Richard Carpenter had given Chantelle permission to marry Nedd. At the time, Chantelle was a teenager and Nedd in his early thirties. 5 Although Nedd moved to New York in 1996, his obsession with Chantelle did not end. He continued to call the Carpenters' home and to send letters and gifts to Chantelle. The Carpenters felt harassed by Nedd's repeated communications. They stopped answering their phone and began to record all of his telephone messages with their answering machine. 6 The Carpenters describe Nedd's messages left on the their answering machine in the fall of 1998 as changing in tone from romantic obsession to threatening violence. Those messages demanded that Richard Carpenter allow Chantelle to marry Nedd or that Chantelle return all the gifts Nedd had sent her. The Carpenters did not return Nedd's calls. 7 In May 1999, Nedd came from New York to Boston to see Chantelle. When Richard and Andrea Carpenter learned that Nedd was in Boston, they sent Chantelle into hiding and obtained a temporary restraining order against Nedd. That restraining order was made permanent on June 3, 1999 and prohibits Nedd from, among other things, threatening either Richard or Chantelle Carpenter.