By Jim Patten
Staff Writer
Sat, May 17 2008 METHUEN — A former Methuen police officer, whose rape conviction was overturned, is out of jail and staying at a Broadway rooming house with a tracking bracelet attached to his ankle. David Blache served 51/2 years at Bridgewater State Hospital before the state Supreme Judicial Court overturned his 2002 rape conviction. The court ruled Blache is owed a new trial because the judge gave improper instructions to the jury. The Essex County district attorney's office has indicated it will retry the case. The rape charge arose from an incident in August 2000, when Blache was sent to a River Place apartment for a call of an unwanted guest. He sought, and was granted permission from a supervisor, to drive the 26-year-old woman to her home in Haverhill because she did not have cab fare and was too drunk to drive her car. The woman subsequently accused Blache of raping her in the back seat of his cruiser. Blache admitted having sex with the woman but said it was consensual, on the couch in her apartment. At the time of the incident, Blache had been back on the job for about 18 months after serving a one-year suspension without pay for conduct unbecoming a police officer. That suspension was the result of another woman accusing Blache of raping her. However, the district attorney's office did not prosecute that case. Since the overturning of his conviction, Blache has been staying in segregation at the Middleton jail. Earlier this month, Superior Court Judge David Lowy set bail for Blache at $5,000 cash instead of the $100,000 cash sought by prosecutors.
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