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Lawyer locked up for several hours for contempt by judge who refused to let DA drop charges against protesters
By adamg on Wed, 09/04/2019 - 2:34pm
Matt Cameron reports that Boston Municipal Court Judge Richard Sinnott, who yesterday refused to let the Suffolk County District Attorney's office drop minor charges against several people swept up by police on Saturday, today ordered court officers to detain a lawyer who tried to argue that he couldn't do that.
Cameron reports that during a hearing today on such charges against one of her clients, attorney Susan Church tried to read sections of the relevant law to Sinnott and that when she didn't stop, he ordered her locked up pending a 2 p.m. hearing on whether she should be charged with contempt of court.
Word spread on social media and lawyers from across downtown dropped what they were doing to rush to BMC Courtroom 17, where, Cameron reports, Sinnott agreed to let the DA drop charges against the client, then said the problem was that Church dared to talk over him. He then agreed not to hold Cameron in contempt.
The DA's office says it wants to drop charges against protesters charged only with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest during and after Saturday's bigot stroll. People charged with more serious offenses, including assault and battery on a police officer and possession of a dangerous weapon, will face prosecution, the DA's office says.
As Church walked out of the courtroom, other attorneys applauded her.
Kris Olson has more.
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Comments
If possible...
Let's cast Harry Hamlin and Susan Dey in the made for TV version. Oh, wait, that was LA Law...
The best scenes of lawyer TV
The best scenes of lawyer TV shows is when the judge throws the scrappy attorney in jail for overtalking. Then after a commercial break you see the attorney sitting nicely dressed in a jail cell socializing with disheveled but happy inmates, when the attorney's equally well-dressed law partner comes to fetch them wearing a "Not again?" expression on their face.
Your post reminds me of the
Mary Tyler Moore Show episode where Mary is found in contempt for not revealing the name of a source. Mary is put in a jail cell with a prostitute. After explaining why she was put in jail, the prostitute says to her "In other words, you were put in jail for doing your job, right?" Mary then says "Yes.", and the prostitute replies "Just like me."
Nah
This sounds more like Harry T. Stone...but without the humor.
Where's Bull when you need
Where's Bull when you need him?
This judge
sure sounds like they enjoyed the positive Right Wing coverage of fighting the "EVIL COMMIE LIBERAL DA" or whatever AM radio's new name for Rollins is.
Rollins
They call her Racial Rollins.
Her office is about to get
Her office is about to get really busy once word spreads that she’s willing to go to jail for her clients.
Well she did defend the
Well she did defend the friends of the guy who bombed our city a few years ago, so I’m sure her standards weren’t very high to begin with.
Because...
...his friends helped him bomb the city.
Leave yourself alone, willya?
To File a Formal Complaint
For those who think Judge Richard Sinnott flagrantly disregarded the rule of law and should be held accountable for his actions: https://www.mass.gov/forms/cjc-online-complaint-form
Judge Dredd
I AM THE LAW!
Sinnott sounds like a real crackpot
Does he plan on prosecuting these cases himself, without help from the DA? I hope they all ask for jury trials. I love to waste taxpayer money on this garbage.
Would you feel the same if
Would you feel the same if one of the policemen that got hurt was one of your family members??????
Nobody was injured in the cases here
Again, we're only talking about people who were charged with disorderly conduct. The people who allegedly injured cops are being prosecuted.
So, yeah, if one of my relatives were injured, I'd be mad - but not at the people we're talking about here.
DA's office says it wants to drop charges against protesters
Since WHEN is "resisting arrest" considered to be a minor charge!? This move sends a very bad message to the 'out of town', often paid, protestors (regardless of what side) they do not have to comply with a police officers orders of arrest once they have committed a crime!
Why can't anyone place themselves in the shoes of a public servant police officer who is only there to make a living for them and their family? The officer may even agree with the individual's opinion, but has a duty and employment obligation to enforce the law.
Excellent message to send to the younger folks of our generation....ignore legal police demands of arrest once you have broken the law......we are moving towards anarchy where everyone will lose!
Since when?
Since the arrests were, in the eyes of the district attorney's office, excessive. Rollins said she was dropping charges against SOME OF THE PROTESTERS (in caps, since people seem to be having trouble reading that she is NOT dropping charges against all the protesters) because they were exercising their First Amendment rights and should not have been arrested to begin with. If an arrest is illegal, how can you charge somebody with resisting that arrest?
It's hardly a new legal theory.
And even under Burly He-Man Tough Stuff Prosecutor Dan Conley, prosecutors typically would dismiss charges against protesters who were only charged with, oh, golly, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Just one difference. Conley's assistant DAs would ask a judge for a continuation without a finding for six months or so and then, if the person didn't get into any trouble, dismiss the charges. In this case, Rollins's assistant DAs filed to dismiss the charges immediately.
I'm generally on the side of
I'm generally on the side of the counter-protesters in this case.
But should you be allowed to get physical with a cop who's trying to arrest you, just because you think you don't deserve to be arrested?
"get physical"
Cops call any physical contact, including involuntary contact because of actions that they initiated, "noncompliance" or "resisting arrest". They're trained to shout "Stop resisting!" to give the impression that they are, in fact, being resisted.
public servant
Based on video of the event, there are some questions being asked about whether *all* of the police officers were acting as public servants, or pursuing some misguided agenda of their own...
https://medium.com/@crschmidt/captain-john-danilecki-presents-a-clear-an...
Since when?
Since any cop can say that anyone "resisted arrest". Educate yourself.
Since when?
That is where everyone has their 'day in court' to be judged by a jury of their peers, and the arresting officer has the burden of proof to demonstrate the charge of "resisting arrest".
Given the fact the Boston Police are requiring citywide use of "Axon Body 2" personal camera's (which likely many officers involved in this case likely had deployed) is a true way of filtering out the claims of excessive force and/or falsely claimed charges such as "resisting arrest". The camera doesn't lie.....
Is the sinnett related to the
Is the sinnett related to the guy who was the city censor for many years and is the reason for the phrase "banned in Boston"?
Yep
His father, who died in 2003.
Yes and no
Sinnott Sr. was the last city censor (he held the post until 1980), but the phrase “Banned in Boston” became popular in the 19th century, and was often used for marketing by publishers and theatrical producers lucky enough to earn the label.
Edit:corrected spelling of last name.
Sin not. I get it.
Sin not. I get it.
Also
I believe his wife is a Municipal Court judge and his brother is a police officer.
Sinnot Article
Globe has an article on the judge.
How nice that he was given a second chance by the courts when he shot a man.
“Years earlier, in 1980, Sinnott shot another man in City Hall Plaza in what Suffolk prosecutors deemed an act of self-defense. According to a Globe story from the time, Sinnott shot and wounded Coast Guardsman Michael Hulme during a wild encounter shortly before midnight on Sept. 17 of that year. Hulme, 22, survived.
At the time, he was an investigator with the Suffolk district attorney.
During an arraignment for two other men involved in the incident, a prosecutor read a brief statement maintaining that Sinnott was the victim of an unprovoked attack by five men as he was walking through City Hall Plaza, according to the article.
The Globe reported that other investigative sources contended “that Sinnott may have precipitated the incident by spraying the group with Mace after they ignored his orders to stop kicking the tires of an F15 fighter jet on display in the plaza.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/09/05/judge-...
This isn't the first time he
This isn't the first time he's taken the law into his own hands, showing total contempt for due process, checks and balances, and other such niceties.
Let's not forget the time he lied about being the victim of an unprovoked attack, in which he maced some kids, then shot one of them when they fought back.
Boston Globe, Friday, September 19, 1980, page 54
https://imgur.com/a/xOxvJ7w