BOSTON (WHDH) - Suffolk District Attorney Rachel Rollins has petitioned the state’s Supreme Judicial Court to overrule a judge who didn’t allow prosecutors to drop non-violent charges against one of the dozens of protesters who were arrested during a controversial Straight Pride Parade in Boston.
One day after Boston Municipal Court Judge Richard Sinnott decided not to drop a disorderly conduct charge against one of the people arrested on Saturday, Rollins said prosecutors submitted an emergency petition to the state’s highest court to order him to accept a prosecutor’s request to toss the charge.
“The actions of Judge Richard Sinnott are unprecedented and outrageous,” Rollins said in a statement on Wednesday. “His insistence on arraigning individuals when my office has used its discretion to decline a case is an unconstitutional abuse of his power and serves neither the interests of justice nor public safety.”
Rollins continued, “The power to pursue prosecution falls exclusively on the executive branch, not the judiciary. The judge overstepped his authority here, and only an action of our state’s highest court can correct this injustice.”
Rollins also noted that Sinnott ordered a defense attorney involved in another case held in contempt of the court for arguing in favor of the Commonwealth’s recommendation to drop the charges.
The power to pursue prosecution falls exclusively on the executive branch, not the judiciary. The judge overstepped his authority here, and only an action of our state's highest court can correct this injustice.
— Rachael Rollins (@DARollins) September 4, 2019
Boston police took 36 people into custody during the controversial event.
The Boston Patrolman’s Association says four officers were injured during the demonstration.
Mayor Martin J. Walsh sided with Sinnott’s actions, saying that police don’t arrest people without a reason.
“I feel that these cases should move along to a system,” Walsh explained. “I don’t think that they should be dismissed. I think there should be a process in all of them.”
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