Jury returns split verdict in Northampton’s only murder case of 2021

A Hampshire Supreme Court jury has returned a split verdict in Northampton’s only murder case of 2021, officials said Friday.

Steven J. Malloy, the Springfield resident accused of fatally shooting Joseph R. Filliau, 39, of Pittsfield, in a Northampton apartment, was found not guilty of first-degree murder Friday afternoon, Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan said.

However, the 35-year-old man was found guilty of illegal possession of a weapon, the district attorney said. He is being held on $10,000 bail pending sentencing.

The jury deliberated for about five hours Thursday and Friday, the district attorney said, before reaching its verdict.

• Read more: Stephen Malloy, suspected of Northampton’s only murder of 2021, faces trial

A status hearing is scheduled for Nov. 15, the district attorney said. Malloy could face an enhanced sentence of up to 15 years for the firearm conviction. He will later be tried before a different jury.

Prosecutors said Malloy beat Fillio at a Randolph Place apartment on Dec. 1, 2021. They said he intended to kill him before shooting him.

Filliau had a gunshot wound to the head, prosecutors said in court in 2022. He was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, where he was pronounced dead.