Pascual-Polanco Brothers Sentenced to Life for 2019 Homicide

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Chiry Omar Pascual-Polanco and Carlos Pascual-Polanco on Thursday were given life sentences without possibility for parole for the murder of 18-year-old Jaden Salois in 2019.

"A piece of me is gone that will never be replaced," his mother Megan Bernardini wrote.

"Over the past 3 1/2 years, me and my family have experienced endless sleepless nights and have had never-ending thoughts of why this happened to Jaden and why this happened to us," his cousin Brianna Crucitti said. "We still don't know why it happened to him or why it happened to us."

Family members of Chiry Omar, 26, and Carlos, 22, called the verdict is an injustice, arguing that there was not sufficient provable evidence and that the brothers are innocent.  

They did not speak at the sentencing but offered statements to iBerkshires afterward.

Sister Marisela Pascual knew that she and her brothers had "no fighting chance" for their lives in this community and said it is clear that they didn’t commit the crime.

"That didn't matter to the jury who made the deliberations in under six hours," Pascual added. "Obvious to say, they had their minds made up."

Their mother Maribel Polanco said the verdict is a "big injustice" and racism against her children, arguing that it was decided on because they have a Hispanic last name.

Cousin Elina Estrella said the case showed a lot of circumstantial evidence that was not concrete and pointed to a lack of diversity on the jury. She believes that if Salois was a person of color and her cousins were white, it "would have been a different story."

Last month, the brothers were found guilty of murder in the first degree by a Berkshire Superior Court jury following a two-week trial that saw the prosecution call 30 witnesses. They were also found guilty on two counts of possession of a firearm without a firearm identification card, two counts of possession of ammunition without an FID, and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

Salois' grandmother said he had gotten in with the wrong crowd and that his family always hoped that he would realize that this life wasn't going to work out for him. She said they spent a lot of time talking on the phone about how to improve his circumstances prior to his death.

"He had hopes and dreams like we all do. A future life with marriage and children. He knew we wanted to be a dad," Salois' other grandmother said.

"He knew he wanted to have God in his life and I would take him to every church in the city until he found one that he felt comfortable with. He never had a chance to do that because time ran out for him."

ServiceNet Cuts Ribbon on Vocational Farm to 'Sow Seeds of Hope'

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
06:30AM / Saturday, May 18, 2024

Lori Carnute plants flowers at the farm and enjoys seeing her friends. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Smiles were all around as farmers, human service workers, and officials cut the ribbon Friday on ServiceNet's new vocational farm on Crane Avenue.

Whether it is planting flowers or growing fresh produce, the program is for "sowing seeds of hope" for those with developmental disabilities.

"What Prospect Meadow Farm is about is changing lives," Vice President of Vocational Services Shawn Robinson said.

"Giving people something meaningful to do, a community to belong to, a place to go every day and to make a paycheck, and again, I am seeing that every day from our first 17 farmhands the smiles on their faces. They're glad to be here. They're glad to be making money."

Prospect Meadow Farm Berkshires held a launch event on Friday with tours, music, snacks, and a ribbon cutting in front of its tomato greenhouse. The nonprofit human service agency closed on the former Jodi's Seasonal on Crane Avenue earlier this year.  

It is an expansion of ServiceNet's first farm in Hatfield that has provided meaningful agricultural work, fair wages, and personal and professional growth to hundreds of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities since opening in 2011.

Eventually, the farm will employ 50 individuals with developmental disabilities year-round and another 20 to 25 local folks supporting their work.

The pay is a great aspect for Billy Baker, who is learning valuable skills for future employment doing various tasks around the farm. He has known some of the ServiceNet community for over a decade.

"I just go wherever they need me to help," he said. "I'm more of a hands-on person."