The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • A9

TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016 The Boston Globe NationRegion A9 Green Line project advances Construction cost reductions Projected savings over the previously estimated cost of the Green Line extension project Item Previous est. New est. Savings Stations $409,500,000 $121,200,000 $288,300,000 Bridges 86,200,000 51,300,000 34,900,000 Retaining walls 187,500,000 64,600,000 122,900,000 community path 195,500,000 80,130,000 115,370,000 Allother 935,600,000 875,000,000 60,600,000 Total 1,814,300,000 1,192,230,000 622,070,000 JOSE LUIS MAGANAASSOCIATED PRESS SOURCE: Interim Project Management Team Report: Green Line Extension Project GLOBE STAFF Edward Nero (left), Brian Rice (center), and Garrett Miller arrested Freddie Gray April 12, 2015. He died a week later. Trial starts this week in Freddie Gray case Earlier in the day, Pollack said she does not believe the currently has someone with the capacity to lead such a massive project.

"Investing in the right talent and leadership for the Program Management Team would cause dislocations and anxiety within the MBTA, and possibly public criticism, but would have to be done," read one note in the consultants' report to the board. As the project moves forward, officials will have to frequently check back with the boards to update them on the financials. For example, the MBTA must now work on drafting a new finance plan for the project and brief the board on recruitment and hiring strategies for a new Green Line team. Board members expressed a range of opinions on the project. Like Pollack, MassDOT board member Betsy Taylor was cautious about moving forward without a go-ahead from the federal government.

Right now, the $1 billion is essentially "frozen," Pollack said. "Until we know we have those federal dollars and know we have enough dollars and have a real discussion and what we would do with unpleasant surprises, I would be reluctant to give the Green Line to staff and hope it will show up in four years," Taylor said. But others said that delaying a project further over a funding gap such as $73 million would be a mistake. In particular, MassDOT board member Russell Gittlen and control board member Brian Lang felt strongly about pushing the project toward a vote. "We're $73 million short," said Gittlen, president of one of the T's maintenance workers unions.

"That's not that much in the big picture. Let's push it. Let's get it done." Nicole Dungca can be reached at nicoIe.dungcaglobe.com. Follow her on Twitter ndungca. called "design-build," in which a consortium of designers and a construction company would work together on one contract throughout the process.

The MBTA has experience with the method on only a few projects, including the Green-bush commuter rail extension to Scituate. Because cost overruns of the original Green Line plan were partly the result of the T's inexperience with a new contracting method, Pollack said she wants to make sure that the authority does not overestimate its abilities. "People were being unrealistic about what it would take to do the Green Line extension," she said. "Shame on us if we make the same mistake twice." Jim McConnell, executive vice president ar another consulting firm, Ascent Program Management, told the boards they should hire a leadership team comprised of a program manager, a director of construction, and five deputy program managers. Another 40 to 50 staff members, including state transportation and MBTA staff and consultants, should also be working on the project, he said.

McConnell said the MBTA would have to invest in hiring top-tier workers to guide the project to completion, and that may include paying more than the regular salary range of the MBTA. GREEN LINE Continued from Page Al that we don't have enough revenue to pay for the entire project, that we don't have the management capacity, and the risk of diverting the attention of the MBTA from its first priority" The federal government still has to sign off on the scaled-back cost estimates and on the less-elaborate design that was recommended Monday. Jack Wright, a consultant hired by the MBTA, said the authority would save about $288 million by constructing simpler stations and $122 million by building a shorter walking and cycling path, with fewer walls and bridges attached to it. For instance, the cost of seven new stations was previously estimated at nearly $410 million. Under the new plan, which includes open-air stops instead of more elaborate buildings, the stations would cost an estimated $121 million.

Wright's team also eliminated fare gates and escalators at every station and eliminated elevators at three of the stations. In addition, the consultants redesigned a maintenance building to store only 44 Green Line trolleys, instead of double that, and cut a proposed community path by 3,000 feet to 7,000 feet (1.3 miles). Some of the cuts have brought criticism from supporters, who say the MBTA should be dedicated to creating a bicycle path that would encourage more people to take advantage of it. On Monday, longtime supporters of the project packed into the state transportation building at 10 Park Plaza in Boston to urge the boards to continue the long-promised expansion. Many reacted with cautious optimism, but said they considered the vote to be a victory.

"It's a big, positive decision today, and we're grateful for it," said Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, whose city plans to take the unprecedented step of chipping in local funds for the regional transportation project. "We have more work to do, but that's part of the process, anyhow." A spokesman for Governor Charlie Baker issued a statement saying he appreciated the "diligence in examining new proposals" for the extension, and noted that "as the process continues, the administration and leadership at MassDOT and the MBTA will remain focused on improving the core system" of the transit authority. The long-awaited Green Line extension, first agreed to Baltimore officer accused of assault, endangerment By Juliet Linderman ASSOCIATED PRESS BALTIMORE After a five-month pause, the Freddie Gray trials will get underway again this week, with one of the arresting officers facing charges of assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office. A judge will hold a hearing Tuesday on several crucial motions that will influence the scope of the proceedings for Officer Edward Nero, and could significantly limit what information about Gray's arrest will be available during the trial, scheduled to begin Wednesday. Prosecutors have asked to push it to Thursday.

Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams will decide how much prosecutors and defense attorneys can talk about Gray's troubled past. The officer is also requesting to exclude any reference about the legality of the folding knife found in Gray's pocket when he was arrested April 12, 2015, outside of the Gilmor Homes housing complex. Attorneys for the officers say it was illegal and his arrest was justified. Prosecutors say the knife was legal and he should have never been arrested. Gray, a 25-year-old black man, was placed in the back of a police wagon with his wrists in cuffs, but he wasn't belted in with a seat belt, a violation of department policy.

He suffered a critical spine injury in the van and died a week later. The death triggered protests, followed by looting and rioting, and six police officers were charged in the case. The first trial of Officer William Porter, who checked on Gray several times while he was in the by the state in 1990, would include seven new stations in Cambridge, Somerville, and Medford and about 4.7 miles of track. Under current projections, it would take at least five years to be completed. Officials have been wrestling with whether and how to proceed with the extension since it was revealed last summer that the original $2 billion cost estimate could be off by as much as $1 billion.

The costs had ballooned over many months, in part because the station designs grew more complicated and in part because officials were using an unfamiliar contracting method. And as state officials rushed to finish the project, they relied for months on flawed cost projections. Even if the gets the go-ahead from the federal government, it would not be able to start construction for at least 1 8 months and delays would add about $1.6 million a month in "escalation costs," according to Wright. He estimated that construction would take three to four years. So far, the state is slated to contribute about $996 million to the project, and the federal government pledged the same amount to the original project.

Last week, transportation officials announced that they had also rounded up $75 million from the cities of Cambridge and Somerville, plus $152 million from the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization from money that was initially supposed to go toward an additional Green Line station. But the MBTA would still have to fill a gap of at least $73 million, according to officials. And that number could grow, they warned, if federal officials decide the current budget isn't sufficient, the project is delayed, or the adds more features to its designs. On Monday, consultants also recommended using another contracting method that would be mostly new to the MBTA, means es," Assistant US Attorney Maxim Grinberg wrote in a court document. Prosecutors asked for a 21-month sentence, citing the way he manipulated supervisors at the research institute by provid-ing false documents so they would not learn of his criminal background.

"He cunningly portrayed himself as an articulate, educated individual from a wealthy United Kingdom family and even spoke with an English accent," Grinberg told the court at D'Orsainville's sentencing. It was that crime that helped Boston police with the Back Bay case. Suffolk prosecutors said that sometime after D'Orsainville's federal conviction, the Back Bay victim was at a party, where he mentioned the theft to an acquaintance who was familiar with D'Orsainville's federal case and recognized the man's description of the thief. The victim told police and they presented him with a picture of D'Orsainville. The victim identified him as the man who had pretended to be the wealthy European Bryan Young, prosecutors said.

When Boston police searched D'Orsainville's home in Norwood, they allegedly found the stolen clothes and the artwork. Maria Cramer can be reached atmeramergIobe.com. Follow her on Twitter back of the van, ended in a hungjury. Nero, Officer Garrett Miller, and Lieutenant Brian Rice were the arresting officers who chased Gray after he made eye contact with one of them and took off running. In the months that followed the arrest, prosecutors have backed off the knife issue somewhat, instead arguing that the officer shouldn't have chased and detained Gray.

Nero and Miller face only misdemeanor charges. Rice, Porter, and Sergeant Alicia White face an additional manslaughter charge, as does Officer Caesar Goodson, the wagon driver. Goodson also faces the most serious charge of all: second-degree murder. This case could have weighty implications for the trials to come. "The stakes are high," said attorney Warren Alperstein, who is not involved in the case.

"If Nero is acquitted, it would make successful prosecutions of Miller and Rice virtually impossible, because those officers are being tried under the same theory of prosecution as Nero." The court has not scheduled jury selection, which means Nero could be considering a bench trial. The judge has issued a gag order in the case, preventing attorneys from talking about it. After Porter's trial ended in December, prosecutors and defense attorneys wrangled for months over whether the officers would have to testify at one another's trials. Maryland's high court ruled they did, and Miller is expected to take the stand in Nero's trial. At Porter's trial, Porter told the jury that he told his supervisors to take Gray to the hospital as soon as he said he needed medical aid.

Porter added that it wasn't his job to strap the prisoner into a seat belt; rather, it is the driver's responsibility. kind of statement on his behalf," Fernandez said. "I need to speak with him first." Fernandez said D'Orsainville has qualified for a court-appointed lawyer and is expected to receive new counsel as his case moves through Superior Court. D'Orsainville, whose last job is listed at Home Depot, has been held at Nashua Street Jail in lieu of $250,000 since his February arraignment. He has pleaded not guilty.

'When victims come forward and witnesses share information, we build better, stronger DANIEL F. CONLEY Suffolk district attorney In federal court records, D'Orsainville is described as an artist, poet, and writer of greeting cards who has a master's degree in visual fine arts. One of his previous lawyers said he struggled to come out as a gay man because he was raised in an intolerant family. "He reacted to that by turning inward, becoming extremely isolated, not having friends, not being able to relate to people, and only being able to relate by creating some kind Suspect accused of robbing men of fcjiihll fcF35 fcMfcM hWi iiiiiisiw of facade," his lawyer, Jennifer C. Pucci, told a federal court judge during a 2014 sentencing.

D'Orsainville also has a history of fraud that goes back to the mid-1990s. In 1996, he was convicted in district court of credit card fraud, according to federal court records. Five years later, he was convicted in federal court of embezzling more than $111,000 from the New England Medical Center, where he worked as an administrative aide. In 2010, a Suffolk Superior Court judge sentenced him to 17 months for stealing the personal information of a doctor at Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center, where he had been working. He charged $53,000 to that account, according to court documents.

After he was released from jail, he began working for the Boston Veterans Affairs Research Institute in Jamaica Plain, a nonprofit agency that advances medical research to help veterans. Federal officials said that between July 2012 and January 2013, D'Orsainville embezzled more than $68,000 worth of program payments and US Treasury checks intended for the agency. He pleaded guilty in 2014. "Together, these offenses reveal the defendant as an incorrigible and pathological cheat, with no respect for the law and undeterred by the consequenc THEFTS Continued from Page Al Officials said there are at least two other victims, who had possessions stolen in the same way between March 2013 and April 2013. He has been indicted in those cases as well.

Police said D'Orsainville contacted one of the victims through Silver Daddies, a website for older gay men looking for sexual partners. He met the other two victims at a bar. In each case, D'Orsainville was dressed sharply and spoke in an elegant accent that sounded European. The victims brought him to their homes, had a few drinks, and passed out. All three men woke up to find they had artwork and designer neckties stolen from them.

In one case, prosecutors said, he stole a tuxedo. One man woke up with his hands tied behind his back. Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said the indictments were the result of a long investigation by prosecutors and Boston police. He praised the victims for immediately contacting police.

"When victims come forward and witnesses share information, we build better, stronger cases," Conley said. Frank Fernandez, a Boston defense attorney, represented D'Orsainville in Boston Municipal Court, where prosecutors first charged him in February with larceny in the case of the Back Bay victim. "I'm not ready to make any 1 JLM.vuufc. irir FEWRFse MWl 1 BQB mm.