FITCHBURG — Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.’s office on Wednesday dropped more than two dozen cases that a judge ruled were tainted by state police recordings made in violation of criminal wiretapping laws.
The disclosure was made Wednesday morning in Fitchburg District Court during a status hearing on a series of low-level drug cases that became the subject of evidentiary hearings last year when the recordings came to light.
Fitchburg District Court First Justice Christopher P. LoConto, in a pointed ruling earlier this month, ruled troopers broke criminal wiretapping laws by using a smartphone application to record undercover drug stings without obtaining warrants.
The officers had testified that they weren’t intimately familiar with the recording capabilities of the applications they used and had been recording for their safety — testimony the judge found to not be credible.
Early's office Wednesday dropped 25 cases in total, according to notices of nolle prosequi — intent not to prosecute — that his office provided upon request.
Seventeen cases were dropped in district courts in Leominster and Fitchburg, while seven cases were dropped in Worcester Superior Court, which is where more serious cases go after an indictment. Nineteen defendants in all saw charges dropped, as some defendants had multiple cases.
Early declined to comment beyond providing the nolle prosequi notices, with a spokesperson writing in an email that the notices, which contain language common for such motions regarding acting in the interests of justice, speak for themselves.
Electronic court records show the Worcester Superior Court cases, all filed in 2022, all concerned drug charges, ranging from fentanyl and cocaine trafficking to one case in which a man was charged with illegal possession of a firearm.
Most of the quantities of drugs were below 100 grams; one man had faced charges for trafficking 200 or more grams of cocaine.
It was not immediately clear Wednesday whether other prosecutorial offices have also, or are contemplating, dropping charges in other cases in which illegal recordings were made.
State police have said undisclosed recordings were made in more than 250 criminal cases filed by local, state and federal prosecutors, including in dozens of open cases.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell's office, which prosecuted or is prosecuting several dozen of the cases, declined to comment Wednesday. The Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, which represents DAs across the state, has not returned inquiries on the subject.
Multiple defense lawyers with whom the Telegram & Gazette spoke Wednesday commended Early's office, which initially discovered and disclosed the recordings, for dropping the cases.
“It’s the right thing to do," said Barry Bisson, a Boston criminal defense lawyer who chairs the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section Council.
Bisson and others said many questions remain, however, including whether police involved in the misconduct will face criminal or civil penalties.
Jacqueline Dutton, the head of the public defender's office in Worcester, told the Telegram & Gazette on Wednesday she was pleased for the clients who saw charges dropped, though she believes there are still other cases in the county connected to the recordings that should also be dropped.
“I would hope that, in the sense of fairness and equity, that all of the individuals who have been impacted … would be able to have the same benefit to which they, in my opinion, are entitled,” she said.
State police, who have opened several internal affairs inquiries into the recordings, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester DA drops 25 criminal cases because of illegal state police recordings
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