LOWELL — The murder retrial of the Phan brothers came to an abrupt halt on this week when a judge stopped jury selection and released the 12 jurors already seated, citing the need to review newly surfaced information about a State Police sergeant accused of causing a fatal 2023 crash with alcohol in his system.

Judge Chris Barry-Smith ruled on Tuesday that the trial could not proceed until the court and attorneys had time to examine records related to Sgt. Scott Quigley — a State Police detective assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office and one of the key investigators in the Phan case.

The decision pauses the retrial of Billy, Billoeum and Channa Phan, who are each charged in Middlesex Superior Court with first-degree murder for the shooting death of 22-year-old Tyrone Phet outside his Spring Avenue apartment in Lowell during the early-morning hours of Sept. 14, 2020.

The first trial ended in a deadlocked jury, forcing a judge to declare a mistrial in November 2024.

What ultimately led to the pause began with a motion filed by Channa Phan’s attorney, William Dolan. He wrote that prosecutors disclosed during a sidebar conference on Jan. 28 — the second day of jury selection — that Quigley had been involved in a December 2023 on-duty motor vehicle crash that killed a man with special needs.

Court filings show the head-on collision in Woburn — where Quigley previously worked as a police officer — caused the death of 37-year-old Angelo Schettino. Schettino, originally from Saugus, was confined to a wheelchair and riding in a van owned by the nonprofit Bridgewell Inc. at the time of the wreck.

The crash became the subject of a wrongful-death lawsuit in Essex County, where the plaintiffs subpoenaed Quigley’s medical records. However, according to court filings, the initial production of medical records omitted the toxicology results, including blood-alcohol and drug-screen information.

The prosecution team — composed of Middlesex Assistant District Attorneys Yashmeen Desai, Thomas Brant and Kyra Kosh — also told the court that the incident had been referred to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office for a criminal investigation.

In his motion, Dolan pointed to a written disclosure from the State Police on Jan. 28 that said Quigley had admitted to ingesting alcohol on the evening of the crash and with the matter referred for a criminal investigation, he was placed on administrative leave pending a duty-status hearing.

A State Police spokesperson confirmed to The Sun that Quigley was formally suspended without pay following the hearing, which took place on Monday.

The disclosures, described by Dolan as “a bombshell,” have brought attention to the December 2023 crash at the center of the civil lawsuit filed in Essex County.

That lawsuit, filed by Schettino’s mother, Lynn Schettino, states her son was riding as a passenger in a Bridgewell van when it was involved in the crash on Lexington Street in Woburn on Dec. 12, 2023.

Angelo Schettino died from his injuries on Jan. 13, 2024.

Bridgewell denied responsibility for the crash and, in a third-party complaint in February 2025, argued that its driver was operating properly when a State Police vehicle “suddenly drove from its lane of traffic, across the double yellow line, into (the Bridgewell driver’s) lane of traffic and caused a collision.”

The filing states — and as outlined in a State Police crash report — that Quigley, who was driving the cruiser, later reported feeling “fatigued and lightheaded” before the crash and claimed to have no memory of the impact.

As part of the lawsuit, Bridgewell subpoenaed Quigley’s medical records from Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, where he was taken after the crash. The hospital initially produced the records with the toxicology results redacted.

Bridgewell ended up filing a second motion to compel the unredacted records.

Quigley’s attorney opposed the request, arguing in a filing that the toxicology results were not relevant to the civil case and should remain private. The opposition stated that “his laboratory results will shed no further light on liability or damages” and that releasing the unredacted records would “result in an invasion of the non-party’s privacy for no legitimate purpose.”

The filing also stated that liability for the crash was already undisputed, stating “there is no reasonable view of the facts in which the Massachusetts State Police will not be liable for the plaintiff’s damages as they owned and were responsible for the operation of the vehicle.”

On Jan. 20 — less than a week before jury selection was set to begin in the Phan retrial — an Essex Superior Court judge ordered Lahey Hospital & Medical Center to turn over the complete unredacted toxicology results.

Mark Wester, the attorney for Billy Phan, later noted the “timing was crazy,” given that the crash occurred more than two years earlier and pretrial motions in the murder case were being litigated the same week the toxicology order was issued.

“I don’t know exactly what happened between the motion being compelled, but obviously the cat was out of the bag that the results … supposedly indicate that (Quigley’s) blood alcohol level was 0.11, which would indicate he was driving under the influence at the time of this crash,” Wester said.

Wester was referring to two State Police disclosures, including one that addressed Quigley’s toxicology results.

On Jan. 28 — eight days after the Essex Superior Court judge ordered the unredacted toxicology reports to be turned over — the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office relayed information it said it had received that morning from the State Police about Quigley’s involvement in the fatal crash, as mentioned in Dolan’s motion.

In the motion, Dolan cites a State Police disclosure dated Jan. 28 stating that Quigley had told Brant that “he had ingested alcohol on the evening of the December 12, 2023, crash.” Brant denied the disclosure.

Two days later, on Jan. 30, the State Police issued a second written disclosure stating that Quigley had not, in fact, made the alcohol admission to Brant. Instead, according to the disclosure, Quigley told another department member that he was confused by his medical records and believed “it appeared that his blood work was wrong” and that he saw numbers suggesting a blood-alcohol content of .11, “which he believed could not be correct.”

Dolan argued in his motion that the disclosures raise serious concerns about the integrity of the Phan homicide investigation, stating that Quigley’s “credibility is an issue in this case.”

“The credibility of all the investigators in this case is at issue,” Dolan wrote in his motion. “For two years, either the Middlesex (State Police Detective Unit) was investigating a death caused by one of their own, or failed to investigate a death caused by one of their own.”

Dolan’s filing goes on to emphasize Quigley’s significant role in the Phan case, noting that he was referred to by his first name by the cooperating witness, Abdulai Maranda, during the first trial.

He concluded that the Commonwealth “must comply with Rule 14 and provide any materials covered by Rule 14 and Brady v. Maryland.” Rule 14 requires prosecutors to provide the defense with relevant discovery, including material that could undermine a witness or aid the accused.

Barry-Smith allowed Dolan’s motion on Jan. 30 and ordered the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, the Woburn Police Department, and the State Police to turn over all materials related to the December 2023 crash for the court and attorneys to review.

The court-ordered materials began arriving in court on Monday, triggering a sudden influx of new information. Barry-Smith ultimately decided on Tuesday to halt the retrial and he then dismissed the 12 of 16 jurors who had been seated over five days of empanelment.

“It was like a bombshell was dropped on the case,” Dolan said. “I think there were just too many moving pieces and we were going to start in a day or two and the judge said it just can’t happen.”

A hearing will take place at 11 a.m. Monday to set a new retrial start date.

Wester said that he thinks Billy Phan and his two brothers are “shell shocked” by the latest developments.

“I don’t know what this means as far as when the trial will be scheduled,” Wester said, adding, “I don’t know if it’s going to be a month, six months.”

He also noted the Phan brothers “don’t want to sit around for another year waiting for trial,” while pointing out they have been in custody since their arrests in October 2020.

Before Barry-Smith decided to halt the trial, he had asked the attorneys how much time they believed they needed to review the newly produced materials.

The defense offered differing views.

Wester said he wanted to continue with jury selection and asked the judge to reconsider stopping the trial if any information turned out to contain exculpatory evidence.

According to Dolan, he sought a three-day pause.

He told the judge he needed time to sort through the material, which he said could affect how the defense approached witnesses — especially because the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office has already said they will not call Quigley to the stand.

Dolan said the short pause would allow him to review the material, determine whether any of the information was exculpatory, and ask the court for permission to use it at trial, including potentially questioning other investigators or even calling Quigley himself if the judge allowed it.

Attorney Lorenzo Perez, who represents Billoeum Phan, sought a longer delay.

He told the court he wanted the retrial continued until the Suffolk County grand jury completes its review of the Quigley crash, which is a process he said typically takes about three months, and longer in complex cases.

“Still, my client moved for the continuance, which was coupled with a motion that the Court consider allowing us to introduce evidence likely to be uncovered at the grand jury if such evidence goes to Scott Quigley’s credibility and judgment in the conduct of his law enforcement duties,” Perez said in an email to The Sun.

“My client and I are pleased that the judge considered this issue important enough to continue the trial,” he added, “and to keep an open mind as to the importance of the introduction of evidence that is expected to be disclosed through the grand jury process at Suffolk County.”

Follow Aaron Curtis on X @aselahcurtis, or on Bluesky @aaronscurtis.bksy.social.