On Wednesday, five of the six candidates in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s race came to the Boston Bar for a forum in which they fielded questions from two distinguished moderators and the audience.
State Representative Evandro Carvalho, Assistant District Attorney Greg Henning, defense attorney Mike Maloney, former Roca Director and CPCS attorney Shannon McAuliffe and former Assistant U.S. Attorney and MassPort, MassDOT and MBTA General Counsel Rachael Rollins joined us for the forum. Suffolk Law School Professor and former prosecutor Christina Miller and Northeastern University Law School professor Daniel Medwed moderated the discussion.
The candidates responded to questions on topics such as the use of court-ordered sobriety as a condition of probation and how they would help extend positive trends in crime and incarceration rates. The moderators touched on broad policy questions but also focused on some of the “nuts and bolts” issues of managing the largest DA’s office in the state, with a $20 million budget and a staff of more than 200 attorneys, asking what the candidates’ practices would be on seeking cash bail and how they would guide Assistant District Attorneys on charging decisions and plea offers. The candidates were also asked to share their views on how the District Attorney’s Office should handle cases where one or more party may face immigration consequences, and whether ICE should be allowed to make arrests in and around courthouses. And audience-submitted questions included one on how to protect victims and witnesses and ensure their appearance at trial.
A networking reception followed, where members of the audience had the chance to meet the candidates one-on-one. This forum was co-sponsored by the Boston Bar and its six affinity bar partners: the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Association of Hispanic Attorneys, the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association, the Massachusetts Black Women Attorneys, the Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association and the Southeast Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston.
Video of the forum is available for viewing online at this link.
—Michael Avitzur
Government Relations Director
Boston Bar Association
