Today a Supreme Judicial Court justice found that trial judge Sinnott has exceeded his authority by over ruling DA’s decision the evidence did not warrant a prosecution [nolle prosequi] as to Rod Webber. Webber’s record is to be expunged. Note that there is a link to the Single Justice decision in the WBUR story linked below. Supreme Court Justice Graziano states”…the judge had no authority to “deny” the Commonwealth’s entry of a nolle prosequi.” The judge’s actions were a separation of powers violation. The record was also expunged, all mention of the arraignment to be deleted per the Justice’s order. I would say Attorney Susan Church [whom Sinnott locked up] was right, Sinnott was wrong and if Sinnot had listened to Church he would have avoided looking like a doofus and being smacked down by a Supreme Judicial Court Justice. Instead, he locked Attorney Susan Church up for persisting, and to all appearances, for being an uppity woman. I give Attorney Church 100 and Sinnott 0 in their encounter.
Three cheers for checks and balances.
I was confused when I first heard this story. I thought it was a prosecutor’s job to decide whether to prosecute, not a judge’s. That seems obvious and common sense though I suppose I can see a judge reining in a prosecutor who is overzealous.