The latest alleged law enforcement misconduct in Mass, Aug. 10-23

Here are the media reports of alleged law enforcement misconduct in Massachusetts that I’ve tracked during the last two weeks.

First, if you missed it, I shared a big update regarding my public records lawsuit against the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office. You can read about it here:

Mass Dump seeks ruling that Northwestern DA can’t hide names of cops charged with crimes

Northwestern DA David Sullivan spent tax dollars on private law firm to fight against police transparency in Massachusetts

The Mass DumpAndrew Quemere

Here are the other stories:

• “Democracy Forward and Massachusetts Law Reform Institute filed [a] suit in the District of Massachusetts on [August 11], challenging the end of the CBP One app, a online appointment system and subsequent parole program for people seeking to legally immigrate to the United States. The complaint states that the government’s decision to end CBP One earlier this year resulted in immigrants ‘living in the United States legally to being deemed ‘illegal aliens’ overnight.’” (GBH)
• “A former Massachusetts state trooper was sentenced in federal court in Boston [on August 12], ordered to serve three months in prison for his role in a scheme to take bribes in exchange for giving passing scores on commercial driving tests. Calvin Butner, of Halifax, was also sentenced to one year of supervised release.” (Boston.com)
• “A lawyer for a New Jersey man charged with rapes that occurred more than a decade ago in Boston accused prosecutors on [August 14] of conspiring with federal authorities to keep information about a key DNA search out of the defense’s hands.” (MassLive)
• “An off-duty North Andover police officer involved in what officials called an ‘armed confrontation’ with a fellow officer had her bid to be released on bail denied on [August 15], court records show. Kelsey Fitzsimmons, 28, was shot in June by a fellow member of her police department who claimed she pointed a gun at him while serving a restraining order obtained by Fitzsimmons’ fiancé.” (MassLive)
• “Federal prosecutors are investigating the controversial takedown of a Black man by a Lawrence police captain [Michael Mangan] during an arrest over a noise complaint in 2023, the latest sign of trouble at a law enforcement agency that has been marked by scandal and instability in recent years.” (Boston Globe; paywalled)
• “A longtime [Cambridge] cop [Brian Hussey] who was disciplined after calling the late George Floyd a ‘career criminal, a thief and druggie’ [in a Facebook post] has lost his federal appeals case. … Hussey argued that the punishment violated his First Amendment rights.” (Boston Herald)
• “An internal affairs investigation found a police sergeant in Medford, Massachusetts, repeatedly misused a family member’s disability placard to park in a handicap space during her shifts. The probe … also determined Barbara Decristofaro was not truthful about her use of the parking privilege.” (NBC10 Boston)
• “A police officer accused of rampant sexual harassment, another who faced charges of raping a teenage homeless girl and a third charged with possessing explicit images of children are among the latest crop of officers decertified by the Massachusetts law enforcement watchdog. Stripped of their state-issued policing licenses, the three officers — former Fitchburg Police Officer James McCall, former Lowell Police Officer Kevin Garneau and former Methuen Police Officer Matthew Bistany — will be barred from working for a police department or sheriff’s office in the Bay State.” (MassLive)
• “Boston Mayor Michelle Wu directed staff to submit a Freedom of Information Act request to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release detailed information about individuals who had been arrested or detained by federal agents. ICE denied the request, according to a formal appeal filed by city lawyers.” (WBUR)
• “Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins dodged questions [on August 21] as he left federal court after pleading not guilty to allegations that he used his position to extort a cannabis retailer looking to set up shop in Boston.” (Boston.com)
• In a lawsuit, a couple alleges that an Easton police officer responding to a domestic disturbance blindly fired into their home through an obstructed window and shot both of them. The officer allegedly opened fire after another officer falsely claimed that it was a hostage situation and that he had seen a body. (Boston Globe; paywalled)
• “Marcel Rosa watched helplessly as federal agents led his wife, Jemmy Jimenez Rosa, away at Boston Logan International Airport on Aug. 11. Their three young daughters clung to him in tears, fear and confusion. … Jimenez Rosa’s time in custody ended with her alone, wet and begging for help at The Cheesecake Factory in the Burlington Mall, after ICE agents released her into the rainy street outside the detention facility [the night of August 20]. She was 30 miles from home, with no phone and a broken spirit.” (MassLive)
• “Over two days [this] week, former Massachusetts State Police trooper Michael Proctor’s fight to get his job back begins in earnest. Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, made headlines for the derogatory text messages he sent about Read during the investigation into the death of her boyfriend, John O’Keefe.” (MassLive)
• “Defense lawyers for five defendants whose cases were investigated at least in part by former Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor are getting their hands on some of the texts he sent during his investigation into Karen Read. … That means at least five defendants will now have the opportunity to go through some of Proctor’s communications to determine if there is evidence that could help their defense.” (MassLive)
• In a Norfolk County case involving Karen Read investigator Michael Proctor and prosecutor Adam Lally, the defendant did not receive what the judge describes as “voluminous” new evidence until four years after he was indicted—and a new prosecutor was assigned. (MassLive) And in another Norfolk County case, a prosecutor claims she located information related to the federal investigation of the Read case that is beneficial to the defendant, but she says can’t provide it to the defendant because she's barred from doing so by a federal court order. (MassLive)

Murder charges against Edward Wright dropped

The Hampden County District Attorney’s Office dropped its murder case against Edward “Eddie” Wright on Thursday. The decision ends a decades-long legal battle by Wright to regain his freedom and clear his name.

In 1985, Wright was convicted of stabbing his friend to death and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. However, Hampden County Superior Court Judge Jeremy Bucci overturned Wright’s first-degree murder conviction in April. According to Bucci’s ruling, prosecutors knowingly and intentionally concealed the fact that a break-in to the crime scene contaminated a key piece of evidence. The judge also determined that a Springfield police detective “knowingly misled the jury” by giving “blatantly false testimony.”

On Friday, I watched Wright leave the courthouse in Springfield after he visited the probation office to have his GPS ankle monitor removed. I plan to write a follow-up article about this story, but for now please check out my previous reporting about Wright.

“I just want to heal”

Edward Wright spent 41 years in prison after he was convicted of murder. But a judge overturned his conviction after learning prosecutors withheld important evidence.

The Mass DumpAndrew Quemere

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Anyway, that’s all for now.