Kelsey Fitzsimmons trial recap: Judge hears closing arguments before acquittal
LAWRENCE — Closing arguments were heard Thursday morning in the trial of former North Andover Police Officer Kelsey Fitzsimmons , who was shot by a fellow officer serving her a restraining order last summer.
Fitzsimmons, 29, is charged with a single count of assault with a dangerous weapon . Judge Jeffrey T. Karp is presiding over the jury-waived trial in Essex Superior Court .
Prosecutors say Fitzsimmons pointed a gun at Officer Patrick Noonan on June 30, 2025, while he was serving her the restraining order taken out by her then-fiancé, Justin Aylaian, and tried to fire it. Fitzsimmons maintains she tried to take her own life .
The courtroom here was packed with both North Andover police officers, including Noonan, who was seated in the front row, and Fitzsimmons' supporters and family.
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People to know:
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Defense attorney Tim Bradl
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Essex County prosecutor James Gubitose
2:13 p.m. - Fitzsimmons acquitted
Fitzsimmons , who was shot in the chest last summer by a colleague serving her a restraining order, was acquitted of a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon on Thursday.
2:04 p.m. - Judge enters
Karp returned to the courtroom.
1:56 p.m. - Prosecution enters
Gubitose and fellow prosecutor Marina Moriarty walked in and promptly sat at the prosecution table.
1:49 p.m. - Defense enters
Bradl and fellow defense attorney Martha Coakley re-entered the courtroom without Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons, who wore a black suit with her hair down, entered a minute later with two attorneys representing her in Probate and Family Court.
Essex County prosecutors have yet to arrive.
1:42 p.m. - Courtroom reopens
Court officers let family and police enter the courtroom first. Many of those who turned out to support Fitzsimmons couldn't get seats inside, even though the trial was moved to a larger courtroom ahead of time to accommodate the interest in the case.
1:18 p.m. - Verdict delayed
The court clerk informed prosecutors that Karp would not read his verdict until 2. The defense team also confirmed the 2 p.m. timing.
12:30 p.m. - Judge to announce verdict in an hour
A huge line formed outside the courtroom, as Karp apparently asked the parties to return by 1:30.
The judge intends to return a verdict and explain his reasoning, MassLive has confirmed.
10:47 a.m. - The waiting game
Most of the crowd slowly filtered out of the courthouse after Karp left the bench.
Fitzsimmons' family milled about outside the courtroom, speaking to supporters. Bradl and fellow defense attorney Martha Coakley pulled Fitzsimmons' parents into a private room to wait.
Noonan and his wife went to a private room on the third floor of the courthouse to wait.
Aylaian, his sister and other family members attended the trial's first day, when he was called as a witness, but have not been in attendance since. Even with the sequestration order lifted for closing arguments, the Aylaians didn't attend.
North Andover Police Chief Charles Gray was spotted in the audience.
10:18 a.m. - Judge begins deliberations
After the sidebar, Karp announced to the audience that Bradl raised a series of objections to Gubitose's closing argument and that he would take as long as needed to return a verdict, and return to court 30 minutes after doing so.
Bradl raised two objections related to ballistics issues argued by Gubitose.
First, he argued that Gubitose provided "expert testimony" on the use of the gun that exceeded the scope of the evidence. Gubitose's claim that it was a "scientific certainty" that Fitzsimmons racked a round into the chamber doesn't reflect the state of the evidence, Bradl said.
"No one's saying it didn't happen," he said, adding that the defense position is that Noonan racked a round into the chamber after shooting Fitzsimmons.
Bradl also objected to Gubitose's reenactment of Noonan's testimony, saying the prosecutor racked the gun before pulling the trigger a first time, which doesn't line up with testimony from either the officer or Fitzsimmons.
Karp interjected that the "fact that there's two different versions of what folks testified about is fair game."
The judge added that he was "having trouble understanding" parts of Bradl's argument.
"Whether or not Officer Noonan exercised reasonable use of deadly force is not before me. Whether or not the North Andover Police Department followed procedure in serving (the restraining order) is not before me. Child custody is not before me. Visitation is not before me," Karp continued.
What is at issue is if the commonwealth proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Fitzsimmons pointed the gun at Noonan.
Bradl also argued that Gubitose mischaracterized Aylaian's statement to police when the prosecutor claimed Aylaian said Fitzsimmons could harm someone other than herself or her baby.
That is a "very dangerous mischaracterization," Bradl said.
Bradl also objected to Gubitose's claim that Fitzsimmons lied about her dog being on the restraining order, prompting an objection from Gubitose.
"I know he's trying to do a second closing but the evidence is what the evidence is," he said.
Karp said he viewed Bradl's argument as "nothing but a rebuttal." The only thing Gubitose argued that wasn't in evidence, he said, was that Fitzsimmons had been sectioned prior to being served the order.
"If there was anything that came close, that would've been it," he said.
Gubitose said he trusted the judge to "sift through what's relevant."
After the arguments, Karp departed the bench to begin his deliberations.
9:52 a.m. - Gubitose concludes closing argument
Gubitose rebutted Bradl's arguments about the officers' mindsets when they arrived at Fitzsimons' home to serve the order.
He pointed to testimony from Lt. Sean Daley, who said they were "more on point" because they knew Fitzsimmons had been sectioned before and knew she had guns in the house. They also knew Aylaian's concern that Fitzsimmons was a threat to herself, her son and others.
"There was no chance they were leaving her alone," Gubitose said. "To say they were upstairs and he walks away and leaves her alone is a joke."
Gubitose used a gun in his closing argument to reenact Noonan's description of what Fitzsimmons did — attempting to "tap rack" the weapon to load a round into the chamber.
"Why did she do this? Who knows," he said. "Maybe (Noonan's) right, maybe she was going through him to get to Justin. Maybe she was so upset she was going to shoot anyone. Maybe she wanted him to shoot her."
"We don't know because she lied about it," Gubitose continued.
Noonan should be "applauded for his actions," Gubitose said. "He didn't make a mistake. That's what the credible evidence shows."
There is "only one fair and just verdict in this case, and that is guilty," he concluded.
After Gubitose finished, Bradl asked to be heard at sidebar.
9:42 a.m. - 'Her story can't be true'
Gubitose began by telling Karp that "every piece of credible evidence" in the case proves Fitzsimmons is guilty — including her own testimony.
Fitzsimmons' account of what happened is "impossible," he said, because officers found a round loaded in the chamber of the gun she used.
"As we know, there are only two ways to get a bullet into the chamber," he said. "One is if there's already a bullet" in the chamber and the trigger is pulled, allowing the gun to load another round.
"We know that didn't happen here," Gubitose said. "The only way a bullet gets in this chamber other than that way is if someone racks the gun."
"She got up on that stand and she lied," he continued.
The prosecutor continued to point to what he described as Fitzsimmons' lies — she told police her guns were in the basement. On the stand, Fitzsimmons said she didn't know her mother was in the home and didn't know Aylaian had come in either.
"You know what else she lied about?" he said, sounding incredulous. "She said the restraining order was taking my dog away. It doesn't say that. There's nothing about the dog in there."
9:31 a.m. - 'Unvarnished truth'
Bradl concluded by arguing to Karp that the "credibility contest" was firmly in favor of Fitzsimmons, who delivered the "unvarnished truth" on the stand.
"I ask you to find her not guilty," he finished.
9:24 a.m. - Noonan had 'motive to lie,' Bradl says
Bradl argued that while Fitzsimmons had no motive to harm Noonan, Noonan had a motive to lie about what happened in her bedroom.
"What did he walk into? He didn't walk into some Rambo woman trying to shoot him in the face. He walked into a suicide in progress, your honor," Bradl said. "The gun was nowhere near Noonan, there was no threat to Noonan."
Noonan knew officers can't use deadly force on a person who is a danger only to themselves and knew when he fired at Fitzsimmons that it wasn't a "clean shooting," Bradl said.
Bradl undercut Noonan's version of events, saying it was "contradicted by the strong consensus of everyone else in the house." Bradl highlighted Noonan's testimony that he fired at Fitzsimmons once, then shouted at her, then fired again.
Other officers in the house heard him yell, then shoot, Bradl said.
Bradl noted that North Andover police don't wear body-worn cameras — the "elephant in the room."
"We wouldn't even be here if they had body cameras," he said.
Fitzsimmons was blessed to have survived both the suicide attempt and the shooting by Noonan, Bradl said.
"Maybe that's why Noonan's story is so sloppy. No one expected her to be here today," he said.
9:14 a.m. - Bradl begins closing argument: 'he made a mistake'
Bradl began his closing argument by hammering the defense's theory of what happened on the night of June 30, 2025.
It "was the worst day in Kelsey Fitzsimmons' life," he said. "Her whole world imploded."
Aylaian betrayed her by getting the restraining order, he said, and Fitzsimmons realized that her son was being taken away from her, she was going to lose her house and likely her job.
An "incredible confluence of tragedy visited upon her that day," he said. So she "decided to end her life."
Bradl suggested that Noonan was "ginned up" by Aylaian's "insane, ludicrous statements."
"Like all of us are susceptible to, he made a mistake," he said, telling Karp that Noonan walked into a "suicide in progress" in Fitzsimmons' bedroom.
After shooting Fitzsimmons, Noonan had to "adjust the narrative," Bradl said. It "made him the victim. Made him the hero. Made him untouchable."
"This should be over," Bradl continued.
Bradl argued that Fitzsimmons had no motive to harm Noonan — she knew he wasn't responsible for her life falling apart, that was Aylaian.
He told the judge Fitzsimmons was a "moral person," drawing on her testimony that she didn't want to involve officers in her suicide.
If Noonan had been standing in the doorframe of Fitzsimmons' bedroom, as he testified, she never would've been able to retrieve a gun from the locked chest in her bedroom, Bradl said.
More about the case
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