Posted on 12/01/2007 3:05:54 AM PST by ansel12
Two members of the board that appointed Judge Kathe Tuttman now want her booted from the bench, charging that former Gov. Mitt Romney did not inform them of her involvement as a prosecutor in a botched case that freed a child rapist.
“This is ridiculous. The Romney people didn’t do their investigation,” Governor’s Councilor Marilyn Pettito-Devaney said.
Romney has not responded to numerous requests for comment about the case of child rapist Daniel Parra, who walked free after prosecutors headed by Tuttman missed deadlines in their failed bid to have him committed as a sexually dangerous person in 2005. Romney nominated Tuttman as a judge just six months later.
Pettito-Devaney said she was “shocked and outraged” to learn in yesterday’s Herald that Tuttman was the head of a sex crimes prosecution unit in Essex County that flubbed the Parra case.
Pettito-Devaney and fellow councilor Mary-Ellen Manning called for Gov. Deval Patrick to order an immediate removal hearing.
Information about the Parra case was not mentioned in Tuttman’s nomination questionnaire reviewed by the council just months later - a crucial omission the councilors say should have been included for consideration during her confirmation hearings.
Former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, who oversaw the council under Romney, called the Parra case “very disturbing” and acknowledged that the connection to Tuttman was missed by the administration in the nomination process.
“I wish that sort of information had been more available during the public hearing process,” Healey said. “It seems this process, despite its thoroughness, and I can attest to its thoroughness, failed.”
Tuttman - also under fire for releasing killer Daniel Tavares - disconnected her phone this week and could not be reached.
In 2005, the Essex District Attorney’s Family Crimes and Sexual Assault Unit, which was headed by Tuttman at the time, sought to have Parra, a convicted child rapist, civilly committed as a sexually dangerous person. A Superior Court judge initially ruled in the district attorney’s favor, but the state Supreme Judicial Court threw out the case in November 2005, ruling that prosecutors under Tuttman’s watch violated Parra’s rights by blowing two deadlines by several months.
Parra, 62, now lives in a Boston homeless shelter and was charged last year with failing to register as a sex offender. His case is currently under review, officials said.
Tuttman came under fire last week after Tavares, a convicted killer she released in July, fled to Washington, where he allegedly executed a couple Nov. 17. Romney has called for the judge’s resignation in the wake of the slayings.
A heavily tattooed white supremacist, Tavares served 16 years for butchering his mother and is charged with assaulting two prison guards. He was initially held on two $50,000 bails for the assaults, but Tuttman released him on personal recognizance.
Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said the judge erroneously released Tavares despite a glaring technical error.
According to Early, Tavares only petitioned Tuttman for a bail review on one of the guard assaults - a claim the judiciary vehemently denies.
“I don’t know why he was let go with only one bail review,” Early said. “I’ve never seen $100,000 bail knocked down to (personal recognizance) before.”
But Superior Court spokeswoman Joan Kenney dismissed Early’s claim, saying, “It’s very clear everybody in that courtroom knew that they were talking about two separate complaints.”
Early also defended his office’s failure to find and arrest Tavares after he skipped bail July 23.
“We don’t have the resources to put an intercontinental warrant out on everyone who defaults,” he said.
"Former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, who oversaw the council under Romney, called the Parra case “very disturbing” and acknowledged that the connection to Tuttman was missed by the administration in the nomination process."
Pot meet kettle. The board didn't do their job either.
Politicians have no spines.
I wonder if she was nominated and installed just because she was female? Just a thought.
Pot meet kettle. The board didn’t do their job either
“Pot meet kettle. The board didn’t do their job either”
I don’t think that we are much interested in the board, it is the presidential candidate that we are trying to figure out.
“I wonder if she was nominated and installed just because she was female? Just a thought.”
She was one of a group of four women that were appointed for “balance” by Mitt Romney.
In his defense, one of those four female judges that he appointed was a republican.
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