So the Globe is getting a big build-up for the soon to be printed Globe Spotlight series on jury waived OUI trials. I expect this to be a big bore to everyone but those who have no clue how a district court works.
Let me explain. A busy court like Hingham and Plymouth have many many criminal cases on the docket including OUIs. Now I don’t want to disappoint the naive masses that sit in their homes and complain about what a mess the world is, but many people arrested are not guilty. I’m not saying that didn’t do it, I’m saying it is highly doubtful theCommonwealth can prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. This happens with many many cases. Including many OUIs.
Now you must understand that jury trials suck. They take up a courtroom for at least a day. It can take a morning or longer to impanel the six jurors then the trial proceeds at much slower pace than a bench trial. It usually takes a day and a half to do a jury trial. Many OUI juries find the defendant not guilty. Happens all the time. Everday.
So, you are the chief judge of a district court. You have three judges. Two are in trial sessions and the other (you) is in the main session where the list is called. The idea is to get through the list and move the wheels of justice. A lawyer has a client arrested for OUI but the facts as presented do not lead to beyond a reasonable doubt. Go jury waived. The judge cuts through the bullshit, hears the facts, and decides the case. Can take less then an hour.
Usually the same judge will hear the jury waived trials while others do the jury trials. So some judges statistics indicate more bench trials then others, but that is because of the role they play in that particular court house.
The judge is dispensing justice. He’s not letting guilty go free. If the case went to a jury trial the jury would find the defendant not guilt, or if they found him guilt on insufficient evidence the judge can and would reverse it.
So this is about judicial economy. Unless the Globe has evidence of judges taking money for not guilty findings then I am afraid this Spotlight series will do more harm than good to the judiciary,
Some pundits have taken the view that it is a good thing that many lawyers and judges are aware of the pending Spotlight series and afraid of jury waive trials now, A good thing? Well, I guess if you consider jury waived trials a bad thing then you would think this way. I suggest a little more investigating how a district court, the community court, works. That may change minds.
——
Welcome to my 600th post on BMG. Yup, six hundred. To think, it was only six years ago when I stumbled across Blue Mass Group. I was at the time looking for a blog where I could cause trouble. I was trying my hand at a Texas high school football blog. But within seconds of my first post condemning the Lubbock High School offensive schemes there was knock at my door from good ole boys telling me not to mess with Texas. How did they find me so fast?
Shit. I needed something safer. The liberal BMG fit perfectly. When I first started here I picture David and Charley as a couple, if you know what I mean. And David would come home after a long hard day of work and Charley would be waiting to tell him about the mean nasty stuff that Ernie (me) had posted. Man did I piss Charley off. Now he ignores me.
Anyway, the 600th post means it’s Ernie Boch, III Day here in Beantown and across the state. This morning I had breakfast at the Parkman House with the Mayor and his wife. That Angela is a hot ticket.
Then after finishing this post it’s off to the State House to speak to a joint session of the Legislature followed by a reception in Terry Murray’s office. Then off to the Speaker’s office for his reception. I’ll bet money that the food at a reception hosted by a guy named DeLeo and originally from East Boston is much better than what a person named Murray and originally from Dorchester puts out.
After that I’m christening a new Duck Boat down at the Charles River Basin. Tonight will be the black tie gala at the Museum of Fine Arts in my honor benefitting those suffering from restless leg syndrome.
The best part will be the after party made possible by The Half Man George Reagan. He promised that every restaurant hostess and chick bartender working in the Back Bay will be there. So don’t worry about the eye candy. He even wrote up a nice piece about who was there and what happened and gave it to the Inside Track hags. Sure this is before the event happened but Half-Man is that good and the two hags print everything he gives them.
——-
Hey Elizabeth Warren what’s with that coat? You know the one. The coat you were wearing the other night when interviewed about your Occupy Boston flub. Lizzie honey, you looked like a woman woken up out of bed in the middle of a cold night because of a house fire. Really, is that from the-drive-the-kids-to-school-clothing-line?
Listen, the poor in Boston dress better than the middle class in Oklahoma. So please, get someone on your staff to do a Frugal Fannies shop with you.
It’s not too late.
———-
And don’t forget to follow me on twitter @ernieboch3 or the boogeyman will come out from beneath your bed tonight and eat you.
kirth says
You’re not from around here, are you, buddy?
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
You outted me. I’m from Oklahoma
kirth says
But this seems to be BS:
See here:
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
A judge cannot reverse a not guilty. Agreed. But when a jury finds a defendant guilty the judge can reverse their decision to not guilty. That’s the point I made.
Really dude, all that work looking up case law for nothing.
kirth says
I learned a lot from that link. I confess to being confused by “find the defendant not guilt, or if they found him guilt.” So sue me.
scout says
“chick bartender”, “eye candy”, “hags”, “hot ticket”, “Lizzie honey”, “woman woken up out of bed in the middle of a cold night because of a house fire”, “the-drive-the-kids-to-school-clothing-line”
Seriously, how about for your next 600 posts you put away “The EB3 Big Book of Belittling Female Stereotypes” and just see how it goes?
You occasionally have stuff people should be aware of, but this other crap can really drown it out. Like with Regan/The Track, you’re totally right and people should understand the way that works. I’ve noticed that when they write about his periodic forays into politics, it’s like they’re contractually obligated to say he never gets involved in politics.
SomervilleTom says
.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
You want to read about George Regan and the The Inside Track you are going to have to take the “chicks” and “hags” with it.
Just like the menu says.
scout says
…it was three other guys restaurant- which I suppose makes EB3 the obnoxious regular who thinks he owns the joint (and makes a lot of the waitresses uncomfortable with his leering & repetitive “jokes” at their expense).
JimC says
Ernie’s restaurant. Your threads would be your restaurant.
My threads are convenience stores.
Peter Porcupine says
….distant thunder…
JimC says
Did you catch Larry Lucchino on WEEI this morning? He was growling. He called one of Callahan’s column “pathetically petulant.” Callahan kept his cool, fortunately, because Larry was pretty hot.
Good points re: the courts. One thing I have to hand to the Globe, they have some fight left. A lot of people are talking about the seafood piece.
Grantland has a piece today looking back on the heyday of El Globo’s sports section. I haven’t read it yet.
JimC says
She talks about herself too much, but the Will McDonough stuff is gold.
paulsimmons says
… on the occasion of your 600th post.
It’s nice to read accurate legal and political inside ball.
Those folk who have (ahem) issues with your less than sensitive choices of phrase should be given an all-expense-paid evening at Doyles or the West Roxbury Pub. Amhreins might be a little too rough…
scout says
I’ve actually spent a lot of time at Doyle’s and some at the West Roxbury Pub, and I don’t fully understand your comparison (BMG is not a bar). But, if we were going to compare, I would note that Suzanne Bump has a lot of friends in this place (personally, I’m not a big fan) and if some guy ever said the same vile and disgusting sexist thing that EB3 said here repeatedly about Bump about a woman who had a lot of friends in the Doyle’s community- he would have been hauled outside, stomped, and never let back in the door. I’m not saying that that’s what should happen, or that the digital equivalent should have happened here…but that’s what would have happened at the kind of place you name.
If you were saying that this place should have the exact same standards as a pub or that EB3 would face less harsh reaction for his often-angry, aggressive, old-fashioned sexism at a place like Doyle’s than here, you’re wrong on both counts.
Finally, it’s not like I’ve never heard anything sexist before- it’s still not useful or appropriate political discourse and it somehow seems worse in writing.
paulsimmons says
I was making a comment about the macho (and macha) word choices I hear in private political conversations among operatives – with and without bar cards. After the third beer or so, things get a little…interesting.
And I include Bump supporters among the above.
SomervilleTom says
I don’t doubt that there bars all over town filled with boors far more offensive than EB3 — so what. Bars like them are filled with maroons who also refer to “wetbacks”, “niggers”, and “spics”. I tend to avoid such dives. There are places where someone foolish enough to utter such garbage is likely to get a blade between their ribs on their way back to their car, and there are a host of places where such maroons would be quickly and quietly shown the door.
I’m old enough and weary enough of such behavior that I no longer silently ignore it. It’s crude, offensive, and marks the speaker as an a**hole. While whatever positive commentary EB3 might offer is certainly welcome, such rubbish is most certainly NOT.
I want this community to be a place I can comfortably recommend to a wide range of associates. The misogynistic CRAP from EB3 makes that harder, no matter how profound his “legal and political inside ball” is.
paulsimmons says
…in the name of accurate political and legal inside ball; and his stuff is accurate.
While occasionally annoying, none of the terms in Ernie’s posts sink to the level of the ethnic slurs you cited.
SomervilleTom says
I agree that his political and legal contributions are often profound.
I also agree that his offensive commentary has not yet sunk to the level I cited — such commentary would be removed (and has been!). In my view, these relentlessly sexist comments go beyond “annoying”, even if not to full-blown “slurs”.
My purpose in joining scout and others in complaining about this material is to remind EB3 that this offensive material significantly interferes with his otherwise valuable contributions.
edgarthearmenian says
You still don’t get that Ernie is spoofing the very people that use these terms.
SomervilleTom says
Yeah, perhaps it was a spoof about 400 posts ago.
Not now.
scout says
What in the world gives you the idea that he is spoofing with this sexist stuff? He’s been quite explicit that he means it, if fact recently going so far as to argue he had no choice but to call a female office holder the c-word (complete with even more disgusting modifying terms attached). Do you think he is “spoofing” people who don’t like George Reagan too?
HeartlandDem says
I think you nailed it with the food prognostications regarding the Senate President (Dorchestah) and the Speakah (Eastie).
Hey, would you please leave Ms. Liz alone with the clothes stuff?!? The last thing we need is another empty suit. She is fine, just the way she is.
Bob Neer says
Of course, to those in the know, that’s 4,200 posts.
I agree that the Olde Boston lines are beneath you. There are a lot of things Boston has left behind, or is leaving behind, and for many of them “good riddance” is the best farewell. Just my opinion.
Congratulations on an impressive achievement.
petr says
… 6,000.
Maybe if you get to 20,000 posts you will have actually put down 600 posts worth of things worth saying. Or, put another way, in the words of James Russell Lowell, “Blessed are those who have nothing to say and cannot be persuaded to say it…”
daves says
Six sixes for Petr
hesterprynne says
n/t
SomervilleTom says
The sexist rubbish — especially the last gratuitous cheapshot at the end — should have been edited away when this was front-paged. As it stands, this post is a sexist embarrassment to BMG while it appears on the front page. “Hags”? “Chick bartender”? “a woman woken up out of bed in the middle of a cold night”? “is that from the-drive-the-kids-to-school-clothing-line”? With all due respect to our three editors, you are in fact editors. This boorish and demeaning garbage needs to be edited.
We can and should hold ourselves to higher standards.
edgarthearmenian says
Since when have you become a censor? (I thought that you libs loved diversity)
SomervilleTom says
I expected you, of all people, to value simple courtesy. I guess I was wrong.
kirth says
The reason Clemens used the language he did in Tom Sawyer was not to yuk it up at how ‘edgy’ he could be. Comparing his work to EB3’s is seriously wrongheaded.
hesterprynne says
As evidenced by the promotion of this and scores of other Mr. iii’s posts, that policy would appear to be in need of revision. How about this?
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
–
SomervilleTom says
I don’t know whether you think such comments are “cute”, or give you “character” or what, but I think they do merit pinning a scarlet “A” on you for being an A******.
I completely agree with you, Hester. This stuff is offensive and should be edited away.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
BTW, I was wondering, and not that it matters, but are you one of those born and raised in Somerville knuckleheads or one of the more educated type improving the city?
SomervilleTom says
n/m
JimC says
If you consider Arlington “the country” (as in, “Let’s take a drive to the country”), you’re a Somerville native. You might also get considered if you think Medford should shut up.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
thanks
scout says
Something like:
Note to Edgar: this is spoofing.