Blueprint for Justice
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The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office must overhaul its practices and prioritize crimes of Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, Teen Dating Violence, Childhood Sexual Abuse, Stalking, Sexual Assault and Sexual Exploitation. This requires an intentional commitment to conducting trauma-informed investigations and prosecutions that empower survivors and hold offenders accountable; enhanced support and advocacy for survivors; and active engagement in community-based programs that help prevent these crimes, including teaching about healthy relationships and how to recognize signs of grooming in children and young adults.
The 2023 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) published by the Centers for Disease Control estimated that 60.9% of Massachusetts women and 33.3% of Massachusetts men reported experiencing contact sexual violence in their lifetimes. Nationally, domestic violence comprises about 25% of all crimes. 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men experience serious violence in intimate partner relationships in their lifetimes. Domestic violence, sexual assault, and childhood sexual abuse are among the most complex crimes to prove and cause the most long-lasting harm.
Massachusetts has seen a dramatic increase in domestic violence offenses in recent years. In 2023, Massachusetts had 19 homicides involving intimate partner violence, and police responded to 26,463 incidents of intimate partner violence throughout the state. Perhaps most alarming of all is the statistic that 24% of Massachusetts high school students report that their activities have been monitored by someone they were dating.
In Norfolk County, the most egregious violence we’ve seen in the past five years has involved domestic violence, including the homicides of Sandra Birchmore in Canton, Ana Walshe in Cohasset, Amber Buckner in Stoughton, Rose Lamour in Milton, Kathleen McLean in Dover, Teena and Arianna Kamal in Dover, William Walling in Weymouth, and Brad Larson of Sharon, not to mention other serious violence that did not result in death.
My own experience working with hundreds of victims of crime for more than thirty years has proven to me that no one is immune from domestic violence, sexual assault or childhood sexual abuse. It happens among all ages, socioeconomic groups, and identities--and contrary to popular belief, consumption of alcohol or drugs often plays no role at all.
This work is personal to me. While serving as a prosecutor in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, I was the Chief of the Domestic Violence Unit, which included prosecuting sexual assault between intimate partners. In private practice, I have spent over 20 years specializing in representing survivors of sexual abuse and harassment in litigation against offenders and responsible third parties, from the family of the victim of the alleged “Craigslist Killer”, to victims of the Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Scandal, and a patient molested by disgraced fertility doctor Roger Hardy that exposed a decade-long pattern of patient sexual abuse. I have conducted over 150 investigations of sexual misconduct in K-12 schools, colleges and workplaces involving students and adults. One of these investigations resulted in the termination and license removal of the Superintendent of Schools and high school principal of the Concord, New Hampshire public schools.
I am also incredibly proud of an amicus brief I wrote to the state’s highest court that helped preserve a rule of evidence critical in sexual assault prosecutions.
This important work continues to this day.
As District Attorney, I will:
Aggressively prosecute abusers and offenders by prioritizing domestic violence, intimate partner violence, stalking, sexual assault and sexual exploitation cases, using evidence-based approaches to reduce victim re-traumatization while holding offenders fully accountable.
Center victims’ safety and autonomy by expanding access to victim-witness advocates, safety planning, trauma-informed services, and clear communication that includes the input of survivors in all stages of the legal process.
Strengthen collaboration with community partners including shelters, hospitals, rape crisis centers, schools, faith and culturally specific organizations to ensure survivors receive comprehensive support.
Enhance specialized training for prosecutors, law enforcement, and staff on trauma, coercive control, and the dynamics of abuse to improve investigations and outcomes.
Prevent future violence through early intervention, enforcement of restraining orders, targeted offender monitoring, and public education about consent and healthy relationships.
We must be steadfast in our commitment to preserving the safety of Norfolk County residents, give survivors a voice, and send a clear message that no one is above the law.
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Millions of Americans confront mental health challenges. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)-Massachusetts, 42% of all Massachusetts residents report symptoms of anxiety and depression. Two hundred and sixty thousand Massachusetts residents have a serious mental illness, and 66,000 teens in Massachusetts suffer from depression.
Untreated mental illness is a critical issue in the criminal justice system. Studies show that individuals with serious mental illness are victimized at rates far higher than that of the general population. They are also arrested at far higher rates, even though they commit only 4% of violent crimes. And of course, crime often causes mental health challenges for survivors.
My decade as a prosecutor and 30+ years as an attorney have taught me that understanding and properly addressing mental health disorders is critical to ensuring community safety and providing justice for all.
As District Attorney, I will:
Support diversion programs for appropriate non-violent offenders with mental illness. These programs have been proven to increase community safety, reduce arrests, and prevent recidivism.
Recognize the major impact that untreated mental illness has on substance use, which is why I support the expansion of Drug Courts in Norfolk County -- currently, there is only one in Quincy that is expected to serve all 730,000 residents of Norfolk County.
Improve crisis response coordination by working with law enforcement, mobile crisis teams, and hospitals to ensure safe, appropriate responses to mental health emergencies, including co-response programs in which mental health providers are included in law enforcement responses to mental health emergencies.
Ensure that all staff receive training in understanding the impact of mental illness and neurodivergence on survivors, witnesses and defendants as well as how to address these issues in court.
Adopt trauma-informed prosecution practices that recognize the impact of mental illness on behavior while still holding people accountable in ways that reduce recidivism.
Advocate for system-wide solutions by using the DA’s platform to push for increased access to mental health treatment, housing stability, and reentry services that promote long-term public safety.
Together, we can make break the stigma while making Norfolk County safer and healthier for us all.
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Last year, a Norfolk County jury found Karen Read not guilty for the death of John O’Keefe in a case that captured international attention. Afterward, I issued the following statement:
A Boston Police Officer, family member, and friend of so many is dead. Meanwhile, the erosion of trust caused by this disastrous prosecution resulted in a crisis with an impact that extends far beyond the borders of Norfolk County.
I would like to highlight a few important points:
No experienced prosecutor would ever have charged Karen Read with second degree murder in the absence of stronger evidence about how he died and in light of compelling evidence that Read was too intoxicated to form the intent required for murder. Charging someone without a good faith basis to believe the Commonwealth can meet the high standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt is unethical. I have not spoken to a single current or former prosecutor who believed the evidence supported this charge.
DA Michael Morrissey’s publication, prior to the trial, of a video in which he publicly vouched for the credibility of his police investigators, including disgraced Trooper Michael Proctor, violated the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct for prosecutors. This is unconscionable behavior for a District Attorney.
DA Michael Morrissey knew or should have known of Trooper Michael Proctor’s unethical and biased behavior prior to the first trial and failed to take appropriate remedial action to prevent Proctor’s conduct from jeopardizing the O’Keefe prosecution and other criminal investigations like the murder of Ana Walshe in Cohasset.
The District Attorney’s $14 million budget, after salaries, leaves only $2.7 million for all operational expenses, including rent, utilities, equipment for 144 full-time employees, and direct case expenses. The District Attorney has spent more than one third of his entire operating budget for the special prosecutor and expert witnesses on the retrial alone. Rather than reassessing the evidence after the first trial and seeking a more pragmatic outcome in line with the evidence that would free up resources for other cases, DA Morrissey doubled- and tripled-down on using every resource possible to prove he was right, rather than seeking justice.
In the past few years, Norfolk County has been the site of an alarming number of high-priority cases aside from the death of John O’Keefe: the sexual exploitation and murder of Sandra Birchmore, the murder of Ana Walshe in Cohasset, and the recent hate-motivated attack on a kosher grocery store in Brookline. There have been two murder-suicides in Norfolk County recently—a man in Dover who murdered his whole family when bankruptcy loomed, and another last weekend in Milton. Another man shot the mother of his child in Milton a few months ago. And every day, kids struggle with bullying and sexual exploitation at school. District Attorney Morrissey’s exclusive focus on the prosecution of Karen Read has come at the expense of all these families, and of other efforts that could have been made to prevent crime in our community.
Worst of all, Morrissey’s decisions in the Karen Read case gave John O’Keefe’s family false hope about the outcome. For three years, the family of John O’Keefe has patiently hoped and waited for the promised outcome, riding the emotional roller coaster of every new scandal and facing conflict at the courthouse every day for months at a time, only to have their hopes for justice dashed not once but twice. Beyond the grief from the death itself, this experience in the criminal justice system causes devastating emotional harm. The job of the District Attorney is to empower victims of crime, not make them pawns in his quest for validation.
District Attorney Morrissey’s conduct can only be explained by incompetence or ego. Neither have any place in a District Attorney’s office. It’s time for Morrissey to go.
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A District Attorney’s office wields extraordinary power: the power to charge, to dismiss, and to determine whose voices are heard. After years marked by perceptions of high profile cover-ups fueled by a failure to explain prosecutorial decisions, failed prosecutions, and inconsistent accountability for offenders, public confidence in the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office has plummeted. When people do not trust the District Attorney’s Office, they won’t report crime or participate as witnesses or jurors, and that makes us all unsafe. Transparency is essential to restoring the credibility and effectiveness of the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office and ensuring public safety.
By proactively sharing information, inviting oversight, and engaging honestly with the community, the District Attorney’s Office can begin to repair damaged relationships and reaffirm its mission to pursue justice fairly and impartially.
Solutions to improve transparency include:
We must ensure that all staff and law enforcement assigned to the District Attorney’s Office, from top to bottom, are fully committed to the pursuit of justice. To do that, I will:
Request reassignment of all Massachusetts State Police assigned to the District Attorney’s Office
Require each staff member to reapply for their positions:
I will also:
Review all prosecution protocols, personnel policies, training curricula, case management and supervision models to ensure they adhere to best practices
Publish clear, timely data on case outcomes.
Publish investigative reports of officer-involved shootings
Draft a written Conflict of Interest policy to determine when cases should be referred to outside agencies for prosecution
Publish prosecution policies and general information about charging decisions, sentencing recommendations and the criminal justice process
Require documentation of all dispositions and the rationale for each disposition
Require written explanations and supervisor approval for declined cases.
Hold regular public forums and release audit results to rebuild trust through consistent, open communication.
Finally, to ensure that political and financial considerations do not impact case decisions, I will not accept campaign contributions from staff or police unions.
As District Attorney, I will take decisive action to restore transparency, justice, and integrity to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.