An awkward handoff at Suffolk DA’s office

It hasn’t exactly been a seamless transition at the Suffolk County district attorney’s office, which Rachael Rollins left in January to become US attorney. Gov. Charlie Baker named Kevin Hayden, a former Suffolk assistant DA who had been chairing the state’s Sex Offender Registry Board, to take her place. 

Earlier this week, the Globe reported that Hayden is reviewing nine cases of deadly force encounters by police in Suffolk County dating back to 2017. Eight of them were before he took office and one was a fatal encounter that occurred since he took the reins, the fatal police shooting of a man officials say stabbed an officer last week in Dorchester. 

Making good on her 2018 campaign vow to increase the transparency of the office, Rollins had, to great fanfare, established a Discharge Integrity Team charged with thoroughly reviewing all fatal encounters involving police officers in the county. But she left office without having released reports on any of the seven shootings that occurred during her tenure or the one outstanding case from her predecessor, Dan Conley. 

Hayden told the Globe that some of the investigations were “very, very near completion,” but that he now felt obligated to review all the cases before “putting my name on” a final report on any of the incidents. He said he will follow the facts and file charges against officers in any case where it seems warranted. 

The status of those investigations seemed unclear from a statement she provided to the Globe, which Rollins also shared with CommonWealth when asked about the cases. “I am confident that each of the families whose loved one died in Suffolk County know, because I told them, that the deadly encounter they had with law enforcement was a tragedy, but likely was not a crime.” 

That seemed to suggest her office had completed all the investigations and cleared officers of any crime in each of them. But in an interview on Thursday, Rollins said that is not the case. She said some of the reports were essentially complete while others were not. Her comment, she said, referred to conversations she had with family members of those killed by police often in the first day or two following the encounter with police. 

While officials are often tight-lipped about sharing any preliminary conclusions early in an investigation, Rollins said she often faced distraught family members imploring her to file charges against the police officer who had killed their relative.  

She said she assured them “we are absolutely going to do a full investigation.” But Rollins said the initial indication in all of the cases was that the person had been armed with a gun or knife, which, if substantiated by the completed investigation, would make the idea of charges being filed against any officer “a very steep climb.” 

“I’d say, let’s be clear, we’re going to turn over every rock,” Rollins said she told family members. “I just need you to understand, as of right now, there are no arrests that are going to be made.” 

Rollins praised the work of the law enforcement and judicial experts who made up her Discharge Integrity Team. Her failure to oversee completion and release of any reports, she said, “is one of the very few regrets I have” with her job as DA. 

Hayden’s office said the first of the completed investigations of the eight cases he inherited could be released as early as today. 

FROM COMMONWEALTH

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Hospital profits up: Massachusetts hospital profits pick up in 2021, but the increase is mostly due to gains from investments and assets. Operating profit margins were actually down from the previous year. Mass General Brigham, the state’s largest hospital system, reported a profit of more than $3 billion, while its operating margin was less than 3 percent. Read more.

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OPINION

Marijuana equity: Cambridge City Councilor E. Denise Simmons and Sieh Samura, the CEO of a marijuana dispensary, hail the steps Cambridge is taking to promote equity in the cannabis industry. Read more.

FROM AROUND THE WEB

BEACON HILL

Massachusetts seeks to repeal a rarely-imposed tax on the sale of marijuana and illegal drugs. (Salem News)

The state is distributing another round of $500 checks to lower income residents who continued working during the pandemic. (MassLive)

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, at a press conference in Boston with Gov. Charlie Baker, wholeheartedly endorses legalized sports betting. (MassLive)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS  

Salem city councilors seek to stop residents from feeding wild animals after noticing more wildlife, like coyotes, coming close to people. (Salem News)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

Gov. Charlie Baker compares COVID in vaccinated people to the flu as he resists calls to reimpose a mask mandate. (MassLive)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

The Oklahoma legislature passes a bill banning almost all abortions. (New York Times)

The US Census now says it overcounted the population in eight states, including Massachusetts, and undercounted in six. The problem will not affect representation in Congress. (NPR)

ELECTIONS

Saturday’s state convention of the Massachusetts Republican Party, which outgoing Gov. Charlie Baker isn’t even attending, is expected to showcase the party’s hard movr to the right. (Boston Globe) 

Republican coffee chain owner and former Navy SEAL Sal DeFranco will challenge Andover Democrat Barry Finegold for his state Senate seat. (Eagle-Tribune)

EDUCATION

The seizure of two guns yesterday at Charlestown High School brings to 12 the number of firearms taken by police from Boston schools since last September. (Boston Herald) 

Boston often fails to have bus service to take its high school sports teams to out of town games, yet another indignity to student athletics programs beset by lots of district-caused problems. (Boston Globe)

One campus group that has received little attention amid the chorus of outcry over the impending likely overturning of the Roe v. Wade abortion decision: Antiabortion activists at colleges in the region, who are excited about the turn in their movement’s fortunes. (Boston Globe) 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

Crime and arrests are both up in the troubled Mass. and Cass area of Boston. (Boston Herald)