Judge in Vitale Case Donated to DiMasi
And now for your Friday 3 p.m. bombshell. The judge in the Richard Vitale case has been removed from the case after it was discovered that Gary Wilson had donated money to Sal DiMasi’s campaign.
Wilson was removed by Suffolk Superior Court clerk Maura Hennigan after she learned that Wilson had donated $700 to DiMasi’s campaign between 2002 and 2007. Your new judge is Peter Lauriat. Now that’s a twist worthy of Perry Mason, if Perry Mason tried cases in Boston involving the byzantine relationships between politicians, friends, and lobbyists (or alleged lobbysists).
Hennigan goes on to say that Wilson did everything by the book and there was no evidence of impropriety, yada, yada, yada. But still, shouldn’t Wilson have recused himself from the case way before it came to this?
What are we make now of Vitale skipping out on his scheduled arraignment, which allowed various facts of the case to be sealed until after DiMasi had a chance to be reelected Speaker? Even the appearance of impropriety in a case that is this much of a political live wire should have given Wilson pause.
More proof that Boston is the smallest big town in America.
January 13th, 2009 at 10:14 am
[...] Peter Lauriat, made his first major ruling on the case since the previous judge, Gary Wilson, was removed from the case last Friday. Turns out Wilson had donated money to DiMasi, and it doesn’t take a jaded mind to understand [...]