Bernard Baran |
It took a lot of loud lawyering to finally, after 21 years, get some measure of justice for Bernard Baran, who was convicted in 1985 of molesting children at a day care center and won the right to a retrial in June. Now, the district attorney of Western Massachusetts’s Berkshire County — fighting a political battle to keep his office — wants to shut those lawyers up. DA David Capeless, who is personally handling the Baran case, has asked a judge to place a gag order on Baran’s lawyers to prevent them from making public statements about the case. Capeless argues that by talking about how Baran was screwed by county prosecutors, the attorneys will prejudice potential future jurors. Whether they might also prejudice voters in the September 19 Democratic primary, pitting Capeless against Judith Knight, is left unsaid. (Capeless was not available for comment.)
Related:
Criminal justice, The trials of Bernard Baran, Free at last, More 
- Criminal justice
In an exhaustive and unequivocal recent decision, Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Francis R. Fecteau ordered a new trial for Bernard Baran.
- The trials of Bernard Baran
This story originally appeared in the June 18, 2004 issue of the Boston Phoenix .
- Free at last
Bernard Baran was released from prison on June 30, and is now free on bail awaiting a new trial. The Baran interview: an extended transcript of Michael Bronski and Catherine Tumber's conversation with Bernard Baran.
- Being gay in western Massachusetts
- The Catch-22 of maintaining innocence in prison
- Brief cases
This article originally appeared in the August 19, 1986 issue of the Boston Phoenix.
- After Innocence
Last week, the vice-president of the National District Attorneys Association wrote a breathless op-ed in the New York Times .
- Guilty until proven guilty
The US Supreme Court's June 18 decision denying prisoners access to DNA testing — a procedure that could reliably prove innocence — adds to the high court's decades-long shameful record on criminal-justice issues.
- Labor of Love
Most of us will sleep in on Labor Day. Not the Southern Maine Labor Council, who will be working hard to remind us what the holiday's actually all about.
- Gov’t secrecy is fine with Maine’s attorney general
Democratic Attorney General Steven Rowe, is refusing to defend the state’s Freedom of Access Act.
- Blues and blood
Something is rotten in Beantown — and the stench is emanating from the local branch of the Department of Justice.
- Less
Topics:
This Just In
, Boston University, Trials, American Civil Liberties Union, More
, Boston University, Trials, American Civil Liberties Union, Appellate Trials, Bernard Baran, DA David Capeless, John Swomley, Less
