Single justice: BMC judge erred in trying to deny nolle prosequi.

Byline: Kris Olson

A single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court has granted emergency relief to the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, saying that Boston Municipal Court Judge Richard J. Sinnott erred when he refused to accept entry of a nolle prosequi in a case involving a Straight Pride Parade counter-protester, against whom a complaint for disorderly conduct had issued.

Sinnott's actions "precluded the Commonwealth from exercising a fundamental right guaranteed by art. 30 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights," wrote Justice Frank M. Gaziano.

Relief under G.L.c. 211, 3, was appropriate, he added, because there is no other established procedure to review Sinnott's decision, which would have had the effect of requiring the commonwealth to prosecute a case it had deemed inappropriate for prosecution, Gaziano added.

"Fundamentally, the judge had no authority to 'deny' the Commonwealth's entry of a nolle prosequi," Gaziano wrote. "His effort to do so violated the Commonwealth's constitutional rights under art. 30 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, and infringed upon the separation of powers enshrined therein."

Gaziano wrote that Sinnott's reliance on 3(g) of G.L.c. 258B, a.k.a. the Victim Bill of Rights, was misplaced. That provision requires that the commonwealth notify the "victims" of the offense so that they could appear at the hearing, or have an opportunity to confer with the prosecutor prior to the termination of the case.

Sinnott believed the "victims" of the defendant's alleged disorderly conduct to be the members of Super Happy Fun America, which organized the Straight Pride Parade. Sinnott determined that the defendant's actions interfered...