Court rejects request to keep Jim Marzilli away from every woman in the state

The Massachusetts Appeals Court today rejected a lawsuit by three women who said they were groped by the disgraced ex-state Senator that would have forced him to keep his distance from all women in Massachusetts.

The court ruled that the provision of the state civil-rights law that was also used to limit anti-abortion protesters near abortion clinics can only be enforced by the state's attorney general and that the three women could ask for no more than an injunction to keep Marzilli away from them, not every woman in the state. And even then, the court ruled, there is no proof Marzilli has attempted to assault or harass them since his arrest in 2008, so there is no longer a reason for an injunction.

The women could appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court.

Complete decision.