BOSTON (WHDH) - A federal judge has thrown out the convictions of two former aides to Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh who were found guilty in August of conspiring to extort the organizers of the city’s Boston Calling music festival in 2014.
In a ruling issued Wednesday, federal Judge Leo T. Sorokin allowed motions of acquittal from the city’s former Director of Tourism, Kenneth Brissett, and former Chief of Intergovernmental Affairs Timothy Sullivan, vacated the jury’s guilty verdicts and allowed a motion for a new trial.
In his ruling, Sorokin cited the government’s “failure to prove that either man committed the charged offenses.”
The men are accused of bullying the organizers of the 2014 Boston Calling festival into hiring members of a stagehands union to please Walsh, a former union leader with close ties to organized labor.
Lawyers for the mayoral aides argued that their clients were simply asking concert promoters to consider hiring unionized workers in order to avoid a potentially embarrassing union protest, complete with a large inflatable rat.
In a statement, the attorneys said, “Our clients are extremely gratified to have been acquitted. Today’s ruling is consistent with our arguments that the evidence in this case did not support the charges brought against them. Simply stated, Mr. Brissette and Mr. Sullivan did nothing that was wrongful. Instead, they did their best to mediate a solution to a difficult labor dispute—and at no time benefitted personally from their actions. Today’s thoughtful, comprehensive ruling vindicates our clients, who have suffered tremendously through this long case. Mr. Brissette and Mr. Sullivan are looking forward to moving on with their lives.”
Officials from festival organizers Crash Line testified at trial they feared they would not get the necessary city permits if they didn’t comply with Brissette and Sullivan’s request to hire union stagehands.
Crash Line ultimately hired nine union members and secured the necessary permits.
Sullivan and Brissette face a maximum of 20 years in prison on each conviction.
“An impartial jury, following legal instructions written by the Court, voted unanimously to convict these two men. We are disappointed by this decision and will review our options,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling wrote in a statement.
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