Issue Watch #15 – New Judges, High-Stakes Briefs, and a Major Law Signed

Things were relatively quiet this past August in BBA policy-land as the legislature took their annual, month-long recess, but I still have some news to share under the heading of “ICYMI on your PTO.” Happy as always to try to catch you up FYSA (I just learned that one)…

Judicial Appointments, Confirmations, and Nominations

There were no new judicial nominations by Governor Maura Healey in August, but the Governor’s Council kept meeting to consider past nominees and confirmed the following:

Superior Court

Thomas H. Townsend was chief of the Appellate Division of the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office from 2011 until joining the bench. Over a 28-year career, he argued before the SJC 46 times, handled over 250 cases in the Appeals Court, and tried 22 cases to verdict in the Superior Court. He has also been an adjunct professor of law at the University of Connecticut. Judge Townsend graduated from UMass-Amherst and then received his law degree from Indiana University.

District Court

Lauren Greene was most recently Clerk Magistrate of the Stoughton District Court, responsible for the Court’s ministerial and magisterial administration. In that role, she presided over small-claims matters and show-cause hearings, conducted administrative and motor-vehicle appeals, and reviewed search warrants and arrest reports. She formerly served as a Deputy Legal Counsel to Governor Charlie Baker and as the Executive Director of Governor Baker’s Judicial Nominating Commission. Prior to that, she served as an ADA in Suffolk County, handling cases in both the Boston Municipal and Superior Courts, as well as supervising teams in both the West Roxbury and Dorchester Divisions of the Boston Municipal Court. She graduated from Boston University and Suffolk University School of Law.

Hector Zumbado ran a solo practice in Boston focused on criminal defense and personal injury cases. He also regularly served as a mediator and arbitrator for civil matters and has been an Adjunct Professor of Trial Practice at New England Law | Boston. Prior to opening his solo practice, Zumbado spent more than 25 years with law firms in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, litigating a wide range of civil matters in both state and federal court. A native Spanish speaker, he holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of New Hampshire, an MBA from Suffolk University, and a J.D. from New England Law | Boston.

Remembering Chief Justice Martha Grace

Former Juvenile Court Chief Justice Martha Grace passed away last month at age 85. She was appointed to lead the Court in 1998 and served in that role until reaching mandatory-retirement age in 2009—the culmination of her 19 years on the bench. Chief Justice Grace earned her law degree from what is now New England Law | Boston, some 20 years after graduating from Smith College, then taught business law at what is now Assumption University, worked at a Worcester law firm, and served as the clerk-magistrate at Spencer District Court, before Governor Michael Dukakis nominated her for a judgeship. As former SJC Chief Justice (and BBA President) Margaret Marshall told the Boston Globe, “She cared deeply about the children who were caught up in the Juvenile Court. She was committed to helping as much as she could.”

BBA Joins Two Amicus Briefs on Key Criminal Justice Issues

Last month, the BBA joined two important amicus briefs filed in separate criminal cases that are both scheduled to be argued early this month.

Commonwealth v. Santana

In this case, a noncitizen defendant sought to withdraw his guilty plea and request a new trial, arguing that his lawyer had failed to properly advise him of the immigration consequences of pleading guilty. The motion judge—who had also presided over the plea phase—dismissed the motion, having concluded that the lawyer’s later sworn statement admitting he had given inadequate advice was not credible. The brief, co-authored by the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) and the BBA, argues that it was an error for the judge to find a conflict between the plea counsel’s statement and his previous response to the judge, during the plea colloquy, that he had discussed immigration consequences with his client. Further, the judge should have held a hearing to review the evidence instead of deciding the issue on the papers.

Commonwealth v. Gravito

This case deals with whether defendants should be able to access their own sealed court records. After being acquitted of some charges, the defendant’s records concerning those charges were automatically sealed. But when he appealed convictions on other charges in the same case, the judge restricted his lawyer’s access to those sealed records, forcing them to review documents under supervision at the courthouse without making copies. The BBA joined the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (MACDL) on a brief drafted by CPCS, arguing that the sealing laws were intended to help defendants move forward after a favorable disposition, not prevent them from accessing their own records. Blocking such access, the brief argues, not only undermines the right to appeal a conviction but could also cause lasting harm in many other situations.

The BBA has been active as amici on these issues before, filing in one earlier case on the proper interpretation of Massachusetts’ sealing laws and another involving a pro-se defendant who claimed he had been similarly not been properly informed of immigration consequences of a plea deal. These two new briefs reflect the Association’s ongoing commitment to fairness, due process, and equal justice under law.

Massachusetts Strengthens Shield Law to Protect Reproductive Rights

Before going on an August recess, the state legislature sent Governor Healey a bill, which she signed into law, that, per her statement, prevents the disclosure of sensitive data, such as a physician’s name, and formally establishes that abortions are to be provided in emergencies due to medical necessity. Additionally, the law prohibits Massachusetts state or local authorities from cooperating with any federal or out-of-state investigation into health-care services that are legally protected in Massachusetts, such as abortion care.

This step comes amid accelerating efforts by some to get around such shield laws in Massachusetts and other states—including, just in the past several weeks…

a letter from 16 state attorneys general calling on Congress “to consider taking action preempting abortion shield laws”,
litigation by the Texas AG seeking to compel a county clerk in New York State to file a judgment and court summons against a doctor who allegedly prescribed and mailed abortion medication to a woman in Texas, and
a suit by an individual in Texas against the California doctor who he alleges provided abortion medication to the man’s pregnant girlfriend.

The BBA’s positions in this area are grounded in our principles on reproductive rights, which state, in part, that the right to seek and obtain an abortion is enshrined in Massachusetts’ statutes and executive orders, and this body of law should be safeguarded. Furthermore, “Health care providers should be able to provide all patients with medically appropriate health care consistent with their training and abilities without undue interference by government.”

With that, I’m going to give you back the rest of your time, so we can all catch our breath before what promises to be a busy September—starting this Friday (Gravito) and Monday (Santana) with oral argument in the two amicus cases above.