A US APPEALS COURT overturned the convictions of former state probation commissioner John O’Brien and two top aides, saying prosecutors failed to prove key elements of their case and should not have been allowed to apply federal criminal statutes to violations of Massachusetts laws. “We can conclude that O’Brien, along with the other defendants and […]
Patronage on Trial
Coverage of the federal racketeering trial of former Probation Commissioner John O’Brien.
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Back Story
Probation case drags on and on
NEARLY SIX YEARS after the Probation Department patronage scandal exploded into public view, almost four years after three top officials were indicted, 18 months after their convictions, and nearly one year to the day after the trio filed their appeals, the case remains unsettled. No one has served time, no one has paid a fine, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
SJC seeks probes of DeLeo transcript leak
THE MASSACHUSETTS SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT told House Speaker Robert DeLeo on Monday that it was asking three state and federal law enforcement agencies and its former independent counsel to investigate how a confidential transcript of a 2010 interview with DeLeo about hiring at the Probation Department came to be provided to the Boston Globe. The […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion, Politics
DeLeo calls for probe of leaked testimony
What follows is a statement issued by House Speaker Robert DeLeo in response to a Boston Globe story quoting sealed transcripts of his testimony before independent counsel Paul Ware, who was appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court to investigate hiring practices at the Probation Department. That investigation led to the federal prosecution and conviction of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
What really happened at Probation’s electronic monitoring operation?
IT STARTED WITH Michael Bizanowicz, a dangerous sex offender who broke into a Woburn home in 2004 and raped and killed Joanne Presti and then murdered her 12-year-old daughter, Alyssa. The crime was so shocking that state lawmakers a year later passed a law requiring sex offenders on probation or parole to be outfitted with […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Madeloni critical of Sagan appointment
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER’S highly political appointment of Paul Sagan as the chair of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education underscores educators’ concerns about the Baker administration’s public education agenda. Sagan’s key involvement in education stems from his role as chairman of the Massachusetts Business Leaders for Charter Public Schools, which has a record of […]
Posted inPolitics
Linsky says panel can’t probe Probation hiring
The chairman of the House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight says the panel does not have jurisdiction to investigate hiring practices at the state Probation Department because such an investigation would necessitate an investigation of the Legislature itself. Republicans Rep. James Lyons Jr. of Andover and Marc Lombardo of Billerica asked Democratic Rep. David […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Judge wants O’Brien, Tavares near homes
US District Court Judge William Young, who last week sentenced former Probation commissioner John O’Brien and his top deputy Elizabeth Tavares to surprisingly lenient prison sentences, has endorsed their requests to serve time in federal facilities close to home. Without comment, Young recommended to the federal Bureau of Prisons that O’Brien, who lives in Quincy, […]
Posted inPolitics
Legislative panel urged to probe Probation
Two Republican state representatives are asking the chairman of the House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight to investigate the “rigged hiring system” at the Probation Department and make referrals to the House Ethics Committee if any lawmakers were involved. The letter from Reps. James Lyons Jr. of Andover and Marc Lombardo of Billerica summarizes […]
Posted inPolitics
Tearful Tavares admits rigged hiring system
Former deputy Probation commissioner Elizabeth Tavares, in a sobbing plea for leniency on her conviction for racketeering and mail fraud, publicly acknowledged for the first time that a rigged hiring system existed at the agency. “No one is more remorseful than I,” said a weeping Tavares. “I appear before you today to say I wish […]