On Tuesday, Jennifer Martel called Waltham Police after her boyfriend, Jared Remy, son of former Red Sox Jerry Remy, slammed her head into a bathroom mirror. By Wednesday, the Middlesex DA Office recommended Remy to be released on his own recognizance, even though he has a rap sheet 15 years long, with the bulk of the charges between 2002-2005 involving his then girlfriend at the time, which included assaults, threats, and violating a restraining.
There is a lot of blame to go around, starting with Jerry Remy. Let me tell you something Jerry, if my son was arrested for smashing a woman’s head into a mirror, he would want to remain in jail because I would be waiting outside the station as he was being released to literally knock some sense into him. You should have been a man and told your wife to shut up, and prevent her from convincing Jennifer to not press charges.
So why would Marian Ryan’s office let Remy walk with his rap sheet? Was it the last name? If his name was Rodriguez or Reynolds, would he have walked with no bail? Is this the standard procedure of the Middlesex DA’s office? I see no justification for allowing this guy to walk on personal recognizance…none. Incompetence cannot be tolerated, not at this level of government. Who gets fired or asked to leave? Where is Deval, he appointed this woman.
Don’t rely on government to protect you, they let animals like this walk the streets and may live close you. Believe me, I know.
Clearly, DanofWaltham and Rep Jim Lyons have decided to politicize an already tragic event. Cherry-picking and twisting facts or just making them up to support an argument is not helpful but does attract attention.
Neither Dan or the camera seeking Lyons are privvy to DA Ryan’s or the Waltham police’s conversations with Martel. Remy and Martel had been in a 7 year relationship with no violence reported to the police until the fight last Tuesday night. He was released from the police department Tuesday night on personal recognizance with an automatic restraining order to stay away from Martel that night and he willingly returned to court the next morning. She assured police that she would not be staying at their home that night. She spoke at length with both police and the DA’s office about not wanting to press charges or go to court to have the restraining order continued.
District Attorney’s do not have ESP. They have to deal with the facts presented and the process outlined under the law. If the laws need changing, get them changed. Rep. Lyons is a blowhard politician when the cameras are on taking advantage of a celebrity-related high visibility case but where has his concern been before this? Shame on him.
Jesus himself could have pleaded for Remy’s release, it doesn’t matter. He had assaulted 2 other women since 98′ with two restraining orders against him after 05. This was not a one-off by this dirtbag.
“prosecutors could have asked that Remy be held under the state’s dangerousness law, which was enacted in the early 1990s to give prosecutors a tool in the fight against domestic violence. Middlesex prosecutors did use that law when Remy was charged in 2005 with kicking, punching, and dragging his former girlfriend, which led to his being held for at least 81 days at Middlesex jail, according to court records.”
Thank you Rep. Ryan for highlighting the incompetence of Middlesex DA Office. Fire their ass, then fry Remy’s ass.
In 2005 that was Martel, right? So he was charged and not convicted probably because she didn’t testify against him at the time. Should prosecutors really be expected to just to do the same thing again and again? Charge a person, lock them up, accuser refuses to testify, case dismissed. Repeat.
At some point she needed to testify against Jared. The Remy family shouldn’t have been leaning on her not to.
If it was, the DA would have already resigned.
Not only did Remy appear in court this week for alleged assault and battery committed against Martel on Tuesday night, two days prior to her death, but he also beat up a previous girlfriend in 2005.
Remy, then 27, was arrested at his father’s home in Weston, Mass., and charged with assault and battery committed against his ex-girlfriend, and resisting arrest.
According to a 2005 Boston Globe story, police in Waltham “said [Remy] grabbed his girlfriend by the hair, threw her to the ground, threw a cell phone at her and kicked her in the back, stomach and face. He also allegedly punched her in the eye and hit her in the stomach” on Nov. 7, 2005.
Police said in their report that when they arrived they found the girlfriend bleeding from her nose and mouth and saw blood on the kitchen floor.
Remy was held in Middlesex Jail for at least 81 days, according to The Globe. He was found guilty and ordered to serve a year in Middlesex House of Correction. The sentence was suspended while he was placed on probation.
The Globe says Remy has been prosecuted at least 14 separate times in Waltham courthouse since 1998.
Observing the court’s decisions about who gets held, who gets released, who gets bail and how much, has shown me just how biased the entire process is. People of color get held far more often than Caucasians, people who have more money get held less often, and women who commit crimes of violence are not treated as harshly as men who commit similar crimes of violence. The entire system needs a close review. This case harkens back to a case in the 198-0s when Judge Heffernan in Somerville admonished a woman in open court for asking for the police to take her to her home to get her belongings, two days later the woman was found dead. Things, sadly, have not changed so much. Heads will likely roll over this. Just not sure whose head(s) it will be.
Heads should roll over this, no? Too bad we can’t shield the race/ethnicity/sex of defendents during bail hearings. That way, there’s no bias when the DA recommends how much bail is needed/charges pressed, etc. That way, everything is on the up-and-up.
I’m not blaming the victim here.
At the same time, abused spouses and partners have been able to get a restraining order for over twenty years by saying the words “I’m in fear”. When a police officer or any “officer of the court” hears those words, the restraining order is automatic. While not perfect, that is already a potent weapon with an easily-pulled trigger.
The victim chose to not say those words. The purpose of a bail hearing is solely to determine flight risk. The victim informed prosecutors that she was NOT in fear, and did NOT seek a restraining order. That information was on the record, would have been presented to a judge, and would have made it very difficult for prosecutors to actually get the perpetrator off the street.
There are already far too many innocent men blocked from access to their children by eager divorce attorneys and their clients who now use the threat of a restraining order as a tactical nuclear weapon in ANY disagreement regarding the children during virtually every divorce. Want to sell the house? TRO. Want to keep the vacation house? TRO. Want to have more frequent visitation? TRO. I’m not sure anybody who hasn’t been through it appreciates just how frequently the threat is made.
This was a tragedy. It should not be compounding by destroying the lives of still more innocent fathers.
If someone gets a TRO against someone and the property is owned or rented by the accused, then the person getting the TRO must leave those premises. In the case of Jared this would have meant that during the time of the emergency TRO, Martel would have been someplace else, someplace Jared was less likely to find her, thus making her safer. A change like that could have saved her life.
A victim already suffers enough. Your proposal would add an immediate dislocation to that victim’s suffering.
The current law is sufficient, and likely would have prevented this tragedy had the victim obtained a TRO.
She’d be alive still most probably. Perhaps safety concerns should be paramount. If one is “in fear” then relocation if not mandatory should be strongly encouraged. Telling someone to stay in an unsafe location seems foolish and in this case was deadly.
At least, none of the authorities were.
She told prosecutors, the last night she was alive, that she was not in fear.
Ever occur to you that a woman would be in more fear, if she pursued charges, obtained a restraining order, and the bastard is released in a month or two, or Daddy Jerry bails him out.
It’s the DA that needs to look at the total history, and make the decision for the frightened woman who just got her face smashed, by a person so strung out on steroids, he looks like a Neanderthal.
So, in other words, you know more about her state of mind than she did? And you suggest that a DA’s office will know more about an individual’s state of mind than the individual herself?
I think women are able to speak for themselves. I think their opinion is entitled to respect. I think that the LAST thing I want is grant MORE power, more “discretion”, and more control to prosecutors.
I think this was a tragedy. I think the tragedy happened because the perpetrator committed a horrific crime.
Do I believe women can speak freely for themselves? Short answer is yes. Do I feel a battered woman in a relationship with a roid freak( first thing that came to my mind upon seeing his pic) who has battered 2 prior girlfriends, all public record, can speak freely for themselves? You seriously asking me if a 130lb woman can speak freely and honestly against a 250lb juiced up Neanderthal who has a last name of Remy? Absolutely not, much akin to a hostage speaking freely into a camera, praising his captors.
Your last sentence reminds me of an old saying, guns don’t kill, people kill.
1. According to hlpeary, the woman did not want to press charges. I don’t think the DA can prosecute without that.
2. It’s interesting that darnfromwaltham believes a proper response to domestic violence is . . . more domestic violence. This, in his mind, apparently gives him the moral standing to lecture someone he does not know about parenting. It’s amazing.
The state does not charge people because they violated a law against a person, but because they violated a law against the state…assault and battery in this case. The victim is not the ultimate decider as to whether or not someone is charged…albeit, if they don’t testify, there is often little chance the defendant would be found guilt.
PS, I gave you a positive rating because of your latter comment.
Something akin to a Drug Court.
I’d be open to a specialized court that deals with (an unfortunately) all to common problem. Are there any specialized “domestic courts” out there?
But I see the challenge for this court to be the same as we face in traditional court…the reluctance of the victim to testify against their assault (for a wide variety of reasons). Also, as I understand it, a drug court is actually a form of sentencing…a defendant has to agree to go to drug court (by agreeing to go, this is akin to pleading guilty) and the weekly/monthly appearances is in leu of probation/forced treatment. if they screw up in drug court, they do not go back to “regular court” but back to traditional punishments–either probation or most likely jail. Someone in drug court is an addict who understands they are out of options to beat their addiction. That’s why they go…what is the motivation for someone to admit they are a batterer and seek tighter controls on them, rather then the traditional probation for first time offenders?
Part of her reluctance to testify was Remy’s family pleading that such a thing would “ruin his life.” I’m thinking that so long as a “Domestic Abuse Court” proceeding is only akin to pleading guilty in regular court then she may have been more likely to testify in this different type of court. Looking at some of the bullets points about Drug Courts here it is easy to see how such things could be applied to domestic situations and would be beneficial.
http://www.nadcp.org/learn/what-are-drug-courts
The DA’s office has limited resources and can’t prosecute all the cases where there’s little chance of success and the victim doesn’t even want the prosecution.
…people do not break laws against a victim, but the state. Therefore victims do not have the ability to “not press charges” or to “drop” charges…only the state can.
That being said,yes, if a victim refuses to testify or cooperate, the result is the same as if they had the power to press charges or not.
I don’t think anybody suggested that the victim makes the decision.
I do think that on-the-record statements from the victim that they are NOT in fear and that they do NOT want a TRO makes it very difficult for the prosecution to convince the Court (in a hearing) that the perpetrator should be detained or arrested anyway.
Simply by his tone and record of annoying behavior, Dan has gotten a bunch of liberals to defend a system and its officials for their failure to recognize a serial domestic batterer and protect a woman in imminent danger.
Great job all around everyone.
Or was everything was done by the book, and this crime could not foreseeable been prevented.
I, and hope others, see a major malfunction out of this DA Office and we need to know if favoritism played any role, why with a Mt. Everest of a rap sheet, he was let go, after smashing her head into a mirror just 2 days before.
I just think it’s unfortunate that a bunch of people jumped in to defend what happened mainly, I think, because they don’t like you.
The facts are what they are. If the DA drops the ball I’m fine with saying so. But I can’t put this one on the DA’s office.
Jennifer Martel is not to blame here either. His record is bad but most of that was a decade old. She made a decision that this person she’d been with for 7 years, with whom she had a child, would not hurt her further. She paid for that miscalculation with her life. But the only person responsible is Jared Remy. I can’t imagine how anyone could do something like this.
Dan is a troll. That is understood. But, when he or that blowhard Rep. Jim Lyons call for the resignation or firing of an elected official and spew nonsense as if it were fact, it should be called out for what it is. If the system needs changing, change it…but, in this case the system was followed…it is imperfect for sure…but, DA Ryan is not the problem. Twisting facts to make her the problem serves no purpose.
DA Ryan was appointed to this elected position.
All we have is the DA office’s initial defense that it was powerless to do other than it did. Jumping to accept that defense as the unassailable facts betrays a bias toward authority that you’d think we’d have been disabused of by now.
And the only reason I see being cited for this shockingly blase approach to such a gruesome and preventable crime is the feeling of irritation at blowhardy conservative rhetoric. That’s called being trolled.
Red Sox Broadcaster Blasts Son Charged With Murder
This heinous murder is Jared Remy’s fault, not Marian Ryan’s. The victim got an emergency restraining order on Tuesday night and declined to show up in the court the next morning to extend it. She declined throughout the process to cooperate with a fuller prosecution.
Assistant DA’s had no business letting this scumbag out, and the buck has to stop somewhere. This worm seems to have benefited from the Two-tiered justice system, the one that applies to Politicians, Police Officers, and the Rich. He never served a significant sentence in prison, despite all his cowardly and vicious assaults against women. As a result of prosecutors’ biased leniency, a young woman is dead.
There’s a process for just these kinds of cases, when the victim might be too scared to show up in court. The prosecutors should have sought a dangerousness hearing. Can Ryan and all the assistant DA’s be canned like the parole board? Action was swift and decisive on that one- surely this woman’s life is also worthy of a strong response from the governor.
Remy would not have been let go, regardless of wether the victim was willing to prosecute or not.
Can you link to that post?
Nevermind.