Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Rehnquist to File SJC Brief in LaGuer Case Monday

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The SJC deadline for Benjamin LaGuer’s pro bono attorney James C. Rehnquist to file his brief is this Monday. I will post it to the BenLaGuer web site as soon as it is public and I can get ahold of a copy.

In the meantime, reports and opinions from DNA and criminal justice experts keep coming in to State Representative Ellen Story, who has solicited outside evaluations of the case.

The latest, which came in this week, is from Hans Sherrer, the president of the Seattle based Justice Institute and publisher of the magazine Justice Denied.

The conclusion of his scathing seven-page report (which can be read in full at BenLaGuer.com) is:

“After reviewing a cross-section of the factors involved in Benjamin LaGuer’s case, the most reasonable conclusion is his conviction was not merely a tragic error by an imperfect system, but it was a grave and avoidable miscarriage of justice.”

Assistant district attorney Sandra L. Hautanen, for the Commonwealth, will have until October 11 to respond to Rehnquist’s brief.

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  1. I had a chance to read the seven-page report Hans Sherrer sent to Rep. Ellen story more carefully. It is remarkable for his willingness to publicly take prosecutors to task. This paragraph is especially worth reading.

    Immunity from liability for virtually all prosecution and related acts and the free pass trial an appellate judges invariably grant prosecutors for their prejudicial pre-trial, trial and post-trial conduct, means that the most well-founded accusations of prosecutorial misconduct have the effect of being little more than expressions of moral and ethical outrage. Regardless of the likely reluctance of a judge to hold LaGuer’s prosecutors accountable, their concealment of the exculpatory fingerprint evidence from LaGuer for 18 years, and their numerous misstatements of fact related to court proceedings and filings since 1983 have directly contributed to obstructing justice by sabotaging discovery of the truth about what happened in [the victim’s] apartment on July 12-13, 1983.

    Sherrer is putting LaGuer’s case in the context of larger issues that all who value justice must take seriously. As mentioned in my original post, the entire report is posted to http://www.BenLaGuer.com.

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