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Lawyer charged with trying to bribe attack victim to drop case
By adamg on Thu, 05/28/2015 - 8:00am
An indictment unsealed yesterday charges Timothy Flaherty with offering $2,500 to a man his client allegedly beat in Cambridge last year to stay away from court.
Unfortunately for Flaherty, the man, at whom Flaherty's client allegedly screamed "You little Muslim, you fucking terrorist" as he beat him, promptly went to the feds, who urged him to meet with Flaherty to see what would happen, according to the indictment.
According to the indictment, Flaherty and the man met Dec. 24 in a Medford coffee shop, where Flaherty allegedly handed over $2,500 and told the victim to start telling county prosecutors he was no longer interested in pursuing charges, allegedly because "you know, the guy had a bad day."
On May 6, the indictment continued, the man called Flaherty to say that somebody from the US Attorney's office called to find out why he had changed his mind about bringing charges. "Blow her off," Flaherty allegedly told him. On May 21, he reported to Flaherty that an FBI agent called. Again, when asked for advice, Flaherty allegedly told the man to just not call the agent back.
If convicted, he could face 20 years in federal prison. He pleaded innocent at his arraignment yesterday.
The Herald talks to some local defense attorneys about why they object to the case.
Five days later, a federal grand jury sitting in Boston voted to indict Flaherty, himself a former prosecutor in Norfolk County and the son of former House Speaker Charles Flaherty, who appended "former" to his title in 1996 when he resigned after pleading guilty to tax evasion. The younger Flaherty ran for state senate in 2010.
Innocent, etc.
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| Attachment | Size |
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 flaherty-indictment.pdf | 53.5 KB |
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Comments
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree
Like father, like son.
Meanwhile
the US attorney's office is okay with setting a mass murderer free so that they could lock up another mass murderer. We get what we pay for.
Whas his dad?
The first in the line of Speakers to be indicted? Who will break the streak? Something tells me it isn't Bobby Deleo.
Kind of a cheap
bribe don't ya think? If you want someone to keep quiet you have offer more than a measly $2,500.00
Would the feds be making a, pardon the expression,
federal case out of this,if:
A) Flaherty wasn't the son of a disgraced former housespeaker?
B) The assault didn't involve 'hate speech'?
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Out of curiosity, who is the alleged defendant? It's perfectly legal to publicly name him. I'm not directing this specifically as an accusation aimed at uhub. Someone using Flaherty could be 'connected' themselves.
And what kind of assault DOESN'T involve 'hate speech'? If someone calls me a (excuse my language) 'fucking f-word', if they're arrested and charged (a loooooooooong shot right there), can a hate crime be added to the charges? Anyone have a list of OK mean spirited words to use when assaulting someone, just for curiosities sake?
And NO....I am not defending Flaherty or what he's accused of doing.
Yes, you are defending
Yes, you are defending Flaherty and he didn't just yell at him, he beat him. Go read the Herald.
Difference
There's a pretty substantial difference between verbally assaulting someone while committing battery, and committing battery while making comments that make it pretty clear he targeted the victim because of his race.
whoops
*religion, not race
Common Question
You can think hate crimes as a bit similar to terrorism. Hate crimes affect a whole population as hate crimes make populations feel afraid, unwelcome and marginalized. When someone assaults a member of a specific community simply because he or she belongs to that community, the assault is an indirect attack on that entire community.
Also, a defendant's motivation being used to determine the severity of the crime is not a foreign concept to law. There are several tiers of homicide charges (First degree, second degree, manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide) and nearly the sole determining factor used to discern how a defendant is exactly charged is motivation/planning.
FLAHERTY
Been reading comments from members of the defense bar that this is normal procedure. It isn't. I've been a member of that bar for 50 years. Normal procedure is for the victim to appear before the court and sign an Accord and Satisfaction and ask that the case be dismissed. Here the victim/witness is told here's $2500 go away do not talk to the cops or da's office. Ignore subpoenas.. Classic case of witness tampering. Timmy was a vindictive asst. da and now he overreached. Sorry to say that I'm a member of the Bar when i"m associated with this behavior.