Jared Remy's criminal past: Too many second chances?

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- A new report is raising questions about the criminal history of Jared Remy, the man who is accused of murdering his live-in girlfriend Jennifer Martel last August.

Remy, who is the son of Boston Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy, has 20 criminal cases spanning back to his teenage years, but just two convictions on his record.

A Boston Globe article published Sunday found that while Remy has a lengthy criminal record, his punishment has been light, raising questions over whether he was given too many second chances, and if he got so many of those breaks because of his famous father.

Remy's court records "put together this picture that you could trace through five different relationships, going back to high school...showing that he had terrorized and some cases allegedly violently abused these women," said Eric Moskowitz, the Globe reporter who wrote the article, in an interview with Mike Beaudet.

Moskowitz said that in many cases, Remy received probation instead of being found guilty and facing the possibility of jail time. That fact was "eye-popping," to a number of prosecutors and defense lawyers, Moskowitz said.

In late August 2013, FOX Undercover reported on a decision by an obscure state official to let Jared Remy walk out of the Waltham police station without bail the night he was arrested after allegedly slamming Martel's head into a mirror.

In her own statement to police, Remy's girlfriend, Jennifer Martel, recounted the "fear" she had of Remy that night, Aug. 13.

"I feared for my safety, and called the cops," she wrote.

That statement was made around 7:45 that night, the night that Waltham police arrested Remy, charging him with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

At 9:30 p.m., Martel obtained an emergency restraining order against Remy. But a half-hour later, court records show Remy was a free man. He paid a $40 fee to a bail commissioner who let him go on personal recognizance, meaning no bail was necessary, allowing him to walk out of the Waltham police station promising to return to court for his arraignment the next day. The day after that court appearance, he allegedly stabbed her to death.

Cox Media Group