ConfirmThem

By AndrewHyman Posted in GOP Presidential Candidates — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Mitt Romney is calling on a state judge he appointed to resign. Rudy Giuliani has seized upon this case where a Romney-appointed judge (Kathe Tuttman of the Massachusetts Superior Court) allowed a convicted murderer named Daniel Tavares to go free after serving his sentence, without requiring any bail regarding charges that Tavares had attacked someone while in jail. Tavares then fled to Washington State where he killed a young couple. In my opinion, Romney should probably call on the prosecutor who apparently bungled the case to resign. Romney had no role in appointing the prosecutor. Details below the fold....

The blog Captain's Quarters emphasizes that this case is very different from the Willie Horton furlough program that got Michael Dukakis in huge trouble in 1988. Although this current controversy could pose a problem for Romney, it seems like the prosecutor mishandled the case, according to the Boston Herald:

Ed Ryan, head of a Bay State bar association task force on fair and impartial courts, came to [Judge] Tuttman’s defense, saying prosecutors should have asked the judge for a so-called “dangerousness hearing” that might have kept Daniel Tavares Jr., charged in the killing last weekend of Washington newlyweds, behind bars.

Additionally, it appears that the prosecutor neglected to tell the judge that Tavares had made death threats against several people, including against Romney himself, according to the Associated Press:

The transcript of that hearing shows that prosecutors did not mention Tavares' alleged threats against Romney and others and did not ask the judge for a separate hearing on whether he would be dangerous if released while awaiting trial on the assault charges.

On top of all that, it looks like Tavares may have only been seeking to cut his bail in half, whereas the prosecutor apparently failed to make this distinction:

The July 16 hearing before Judge Tuttman was held after Mr. Tavares appealed the bail in Clinton District Court. Judge Brennan had set $50,000 cash bail on each of the two sets of charges, for a total of $100,000 cash or $1 million with surety. While records from both courts indicate that Mr. Tavares filed a petition for review of only one of the two bail amounts, Assistant District Attorney William E. Loughlin told Judge Tuttman during the hearing that he believed Mr. Tavares was being held on a total of $100,000 cash bail, an amount the prosecutor said was needed to secure his appearance in court, according to the transcript.

Of course, I don't have all the evidence, so it's hard to say for sure who screwed up and why. There's no question that it was a horrible tragedy that shouldn't have occurred, and this is a valid argument for seriously considering execution of people like Tavares (as Romney has pointed out). But my main point is that there seems to have been at least as much prosecutorial error as judicial error here.

Judge Tuttman was a prosecutor before Romney nominated her to be a judge, so Romney cannot be faulted for nominating a lawyer from the wrong specialty. I have more concerns about some other Romney nominees than about Tuttman (e.g. Romney's nomination of Mitchell J. Sikora to the bench seemed peculiar). I haven't yet seen any clear indication that Tuttman would become a lousy judge.

Alexham previously mentioned here at confirmthem that only about 25% of Governor Romney's judicial nominees were Republicans, but I'm not sure if that's a fair criticism. Romney might have gotten even a lower percentage of Republicans than that confirmed, but for his decision to overhaul the nomination process by removing partisan considerations.