Mass. State Police Academy instructors plead not guilty in recruit death case
Two state troopers and a sergeant with the Massachusetts State Police Academy appeared Thursday in Worcester County Superior Court on criminal charges stemming from the death of a recruit injured during boxing training in September 2024.
An independent investigation into the death of Enrique Delgado-Garcia, 25, found that academy staff who oversaw the physical exercises acted recklessly with recruits under their supervision, officials said in February when announcing the criminal charges.
Lt. Jennifer Penton, Trooper Edwin Rodriguez, Trooper David Montanez and Trooper Casey LaMonte were all charged with involuntary manslaughter and causing serious bodily injury to a person participating in a training involving physical exercise.
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Read more:New details shared on what happened days before Enrique Delgado-Garcia's death
Penton faces an additional charge of perjury. Authorities have accused her of lying to a grand jury.
Penton, Rodriguez and Montanez were arraigned Thursday in a packed courtroom. They were summoned to court and sat in pews before their cases were called up. All three walked up to a microphone to plead not guilty.
Just a few feet away, several members of Delgado-Garcia's family sat in the front row.
LaMonte is scheduled for an arraignment on April 14.
All three were released on personal recognizance.
'Tragedy is not a crime,' defense says
Penton's attorney, Brad Bailey, addressed reporters outside the courthouse after the hearing.
"There's no question that the untimely death of Trooper Enrique Delgado-Garcia … was nothing short of a tragedy," Bailey said, adding that they continue to offer condolences and prayers to his family.
"The tragedy is not a crime," Bailey said. "Filing these criminal charges will not bring Trooper Delgado-Garcia back." He described the prosecution's legal theory of the underlying facts as "convoluted."
From left, Massachusetts State Police Lt. Jennifer Penton and troopers David Montanez and Edwin Rodriguez are arraigned in Worcester Superior Court April 2, 2026. They are charged with manslaughter in the death of Enrique Delgado-Garcia.(Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette)
Brian Williams, the president of the Massachusetts State Police Union, agreed that Delgado-Garcia's death amounted to a tragedy, in remarks after the arraignment.
"However, the narrative to date has been shaped by incomplete information," Williams said.
He said the incident involved a boxing training session between Delgado-Garcia and another trainee, the entire event was captured on video and that it provides an "objective and indisputable record of events."
The exercise took place in a supervised environment under the supervision of a medical professional and a certified boxing referee, according to Williams. He called the academy's defensive tactics staff "among the best in the nation" and said, "all protocols were strictly followed."
"Accountability is essential, but it must be grounded in a strict adherence to the facts," Williams said. "It cannot be driven by public pressure or by incomplete and inaccurate information."
What we know about what happened during boxing training
Delgado-Garcia sustained concussion-like symptoms during an "unauthorized, unapproved, and unsupervised" boxing-related sparring exercise on Sept. 11, Meier previously said.
He was knocked out the following day during a competitive boxing match with a fellow recruit during training activities and sustained multiple blunt force injuries to the head and massive brain bleeding.
Meier blamed "the failure of Academy staff to intervene" and stop the boxing match for Delgado-Garcia's death. Delgado-Garcia died on Sept. 13, a day after he sustained the head injuries.
Asked during a February press conference about whether there would be consequences for Delgado-Garcia's sparring partner, Campbell said, "Not in this investigation."
An autopsy released to the family of Delgado-Garcia in August 2025 found that he died due to blunt force injuries to the head.
The autopsy states he died of complications from "intracranial hemorrhages due to blunt impact injuries of the head in the setting of physical training exercises," according to his family's lawyer, Mike Wilcox.
His death was ruled accidental by the state's medical examiner's office, Wilcox said, with a note that Delgado-García was "injured during physical training exercises."
What an independent investigation found
Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early said his office would recuse itself from investigating, citing a conflict of interest, since Delgado-Garcia worked in his office for about two years before enrolling at the state police academy.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell appointed Meier, a private defense attorney, to lead an independent investigation.
A statewide grand jury approved by the Chief Justice of the Superior Court allowed the independent investigating team to compel witness testimony under oath and subpoena documents.
The grand jury heard sworn testimony from over 150 witnesses, the vast majority of whom worked for the state police. The grand jury also reviewed nearly 350 physical exhibits related to policies, procedures, and activities at the State Police training academy.
"Members of the State Police Training Academy committed a series of wanton and reckless acts in connection with various defense tactics and physical confrontation training exercises conducted at the academy," Meier said.
He also described the circumstances underlying the wanton and reckless conduct as including both affirmative acts by academy staff and the failure of staff to take "certain actions or omissions that they had a legal duty to perform during their daily interactions with the trainees who were under their care, guidance and supervision."
Early, the district attorney, previously said that the incident was videotaped — a video that has not yet been publicly released.
More coverage of Enrique Delgado-Garcia
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