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Out-of-control judge had a lawyer arrested for defending the 'Straight Pride' protestors
A judge had a lawyer arrested for reading case law in court as she was trying to defend her clients who were protesting Straight Pride.
This past weekend, 36 demonstrators were arrested while protesting the Straight Pride Parade in Boston.
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said that prosecutors used their discretion to perform “triage” on the cases – they moved that many of the charges be dropped in order to protect people’s First Amendment free speech rights.
But Judge Richard Sinnott rejected even the prosecutors’ requests to drop charges and upheld charges on all 36 of the arrested demonstrators. He even set bail for some that prosecutors said didn’t need bail.
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https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2019/09/06/straight-pride-judge-city-hall-shooting/
Boston Municipal Court Judge Richard Sinnott gained notoriety this week after refusing requests from DA Rachael Rollins to drop charges against protesters from this past weekend’s Straight Pride Parade, a move Rollins called “unprecedented and outrageous.”
However, it looks like the judge with a penchant for discipline had a run in with the law himself nearly 40 years ago—while he was working as an investigator in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office. According to a story in an archived edition of the Boston Globe (seen screenshotted here), Sinnott shot a 22-year-old man just before midnight on September 17, 1980 on City Hall Plaza. The man, a U.S. Coast Guardsman named Michael Hulme, survived.
The circumstances surrounding the shooting are pretty bizarre. Five men, including Hulme, were allegedly “kicking the tires” of an F15 fighter jet that was on display in the Plaza. When Sinnott walked past, an altercation began. According to a statement made later by the assistant DA, the men attacked Sinnott unprovoked, and he drew a revolver and shot Hulme in self-defense.
However, other unidentified sources cited in the same Globe story tell a different tale. In this version, Sinnott saw the men kicking the display and asked them to stop. When they refused, Sinnott sprayed the group with Mace, without identifying himself beforehand. After a grapple, which involved even more pepper spray, Sinnott drew his revolver, fired a warning shot in the air, and then fired at least two more shots, injuring Hulme, the Globe report reads.
Two of the five men were sent to the hospital, Hulme with a gunshot wound, and another with a minor head injury. All five men who allegedly attacked Sinnott were charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon.
“They were all over me,” Sinnott told the Globe at the time, with “his face puffed” and “eyes red.”
Boston Municipal Court Judge Richard Sinnott gained notoriety this week after refusing requests from DA Rachael Rollins to drop charges against protesters from this past weekend’s Straight Pride Parade, a move Rollins called “unprecedented and outrageous.”
However, it looks like the judge with a penchant for discipline had a run in with the law himself nearly 40 years ago—while he was working as an investigator in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office. According to a story in an archived edition of the Boston Globe (seen screenshotted here), Sinnott shot a 22-year-old man just before midnight on September 17, 1980 on City Hall Plaza. The man, a U.S. Coast Guardsman named Michael Hulme, survived.
The circumstances surrounding the shooting are pretty bizarre. Five men, including Hulme, were allegedly “kicking the tires” of an F15 fighter jet that was on display in the Plaza. When Sinnott walked past, an altercation began. According to a statement made later by the assistant DA, the men attacked Sinnott unprovoked, and he drew a revolver and shot Hulme in self-defense.
However, other unidentified sources cited in the same Globe story tell a different tale. In this version, Sinnott saw the men kicking the display and asked them to stop. When they refused, Sinnott sprayed the group with Mace, without identifying himself beforehand. After a grapple, which involved even more pepper spray, Sinnott drew his revolver, fired a warning shot in the air, and then fired at least two more shots, injuring Hulme, the Globe report reads.
Two of the five men were sent to the hospital, Hulme with a gunshot wound, and another with a minor head injury. All five men who allegedly attacked Sinnott were charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon.
“They were all over me,” Sinnott told the Globe at the time, with “his face puffed” and “eyes red.”
