Amanda Plasse’s Mother’s Lawsuit Over Crime Scene Photos

Michelle Penna, the mother of 20-year-old Chicopee murder victim Amanda Plasse, sued the City of Chicopee and its police department in federal court in June 2015 after learning that officers had used personal cell phones to take and share crime scene photographs of her daughter’s body. The lawsuit sought $10 million and settled that December for $110,000, along with a public apology from Mayor Richard Kos. Penna’s mother’s lawsuit over the crime scene photos also became the foundation for years of advocacy that produced Amanda’s Law in 2022.¹

What the Officers Did

Amanda Plasse was found stabbed to death in her third-floor Chicopee apartment on August 26, 2011. Two officers assigned to guard the door to the apartment, Sgt. Keith Lemay and Officer Terry Dec, used their personal cell phones to photograph her body and then texted the images to roughly ten fellow officers. One of those officers, Sgt. Jeffery Godere, forwarded a photograph to Officer Chad Levesque, who showed it to coaches at a youth football game in the neighboring town of Agawam.²³

An internal affairs investigation led by then-Captain William Jebb uncovered the photo-sharing and also found that several officers had been dishonest with investigators. Sgt. Godere initially denied receiving or forwarding any images before eventually admitting the truth, later telling investigators he didn’t want to be seen as a “rat.”⁴

Hampden District Attorney Mark Mastroianni reviewed the matter and described the officers’ conduct as “inappropriate, unprofessional and a great indignity to the victim and her family.” He concluded the officers could not be prosecuted under the law as it stood.⁵

The Lawsuit

On June 2, 2015, Penna (identified in some court filings as Michelle Mathieson), along with Amanda’s siblings Aimee Lee Plasse and Nicholas Plasse, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Springfield. The family was represented by attorney Michelle Cruz.⁶

The complaint named the City of Chicopee, the Chicopee Police Department, and several individual officers as defendants. It alleged violations of the family’s federal and state civil rights and claimed emotional abuse stemming from the unauthorized photographing and distribution of images of Amanda’s body. The suit described the officers’ conduct as “intentional, reckless, extreme and outrageous beyond all bounds of decency” and asked for $10 million in damages.¹

The Settlement

Federal Magistrate Judge Kenneth Neiman oversaw mediation, and the parties reached an agreement later that year. On December 1, 2015, the Chicopee City Council voted to approve a $110,000 payment to the family. Associate City Solicitor Thomas Rooke recommended the deal, noting that trial costs alone would likely exceed $100,000 and that a judgment against the city would accrue 12 percent interest running from the filing date.⁷

Mayor Kos issued a written apology dated December 2, 2015: “On behalf of the city of Chicopee I express sincere apologies for the harm experienced by the plaintiffs as a result of the distribution and dissemination of the photographic images of Amanda Plasse.” Several city councilors also offered apologies during the meeting.³

Penna later said the lawsuit “wasn’t about the money. It was about proving the point.”⁸

What Happened to the Officers

The internal discipline handed down before the lawsuit was widely seen as inadequate. Lemay and Dec received letters of reprimand. Godere also received a written warning, while Levesque was ordered to work three unpaid shifts. Then-Mayor Michael Bissonnette publicly called the discipline “way too lax” and said he was concerned some officers had lied to cover up the incident for months.²³

In January 2013, Mastroianni issued a “Brady letter” identifying Godere and Levesque as officers who had made false statements, meaning prosecutors would have to disclose their dishonesty to defense attorneys in any future case where they testified.⁹

The professional fallout stretched over years. Levesque resigned in 2018 while facing a disciplinary hearing. Dec was reassigned as a detective in the narcotics bureau. After the Brady letter resurfaced in 2017, Police Chief William Jebb moved Godere to permanent administrative duty, and in November 2018 Mayor Kos terminated him for his dishonesty during the original investigation. In February 2020, the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission found the termination excessive compared to the lighter treatment other officers had received, ordered Godere reinstated, and demoted him from sergeant to patrol officer. The Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld that decision in August 2023.⁹⁴

Amanda’s Law

Because existing Massachusetts law offered no criminal penalty for what the officers had done, Penna and her family pushed for legislation alongside the civil case. State Representative Joseph Wagner first introduced the bill in 2013. For nearly a decade, Penna and her daughter Aimee Lee testified before the legislature every two years, gathered community signatures, and worked the media.⁵¹⁰

Penna described the toll of the repeated testimony: “Knowing that you have to prepare yourself and pour this heart wrenching, horrifying story into three minutes, testifying in an auditorium in front of hundreds of people that you don’t know… We don’t want to do it again. We don’t want to do it again. We will, but we don’t want to do it again.”¹⁰

The bill, H.1917 in the 192nd legislative session, passed both chambers in the summer of 2022. Governor Charlie Baker signed it into law on August 4, 2022.¹¹ Amanda’s Law makes it a misdemeanor for first responders to take or share unauthorized photographs of crime victims, punishable by up to one year in jail or a $2,000 fine. Body-worn cameras and photographs taken for legitimate evidentiary purposes are exempt.⁵

1
MassLive. Chicopee Settles Suit Filed by Family of Amanda Plasse
2
MassLive. Chicopee Police Review Discovers Officers Shared Crime Scene Photos
3
MassLive. Chicopee Mayor Apologizes to Family of Amanda Plasse
4
FindLaw. Jeffrey Godere v. City of Chicopee, 22-P-134
5
WAMC. New Massachusetts Law Makes It a Crime for First Responders to Take Unauthorized Photographs of Crime Scenes
6
WWLP. Family of Amanda Plasse Suing City of Chicopee Police Department
7
The Reminder. Chicopee Plasse Settlement
8
ABC News. Amanda Plasse’s Murder: Inside the Brutal Killing of a Young Woman
9
Mass.gov. Godere, Jeffrey v. City of Chicopee – Civil Service Commission Decision
10
Western Mass News. Family of Chicopee Murder Victim Push to Pass Amanda’s Law Before Session Ends
11
General Court of Massachusetts. H.1917 – An Act Relative to Taking or Transmitting Images of Crime Victims by First Responders