Corrupt Magistrate

[dlw99]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Massachusetts

Barnstable District Court Chief Clerk Magistrate Robert E. Powers has been disciplined and removed by the Supreme Judicial Court. It was alleged that Robert E. Powers failed to uphold the standards of the office through "unpredictable, disrespectful and sometime aggressive conduct as clerk magistrate.

Now that he's been re-assigned, people are coming out of the woodwork to tell their stories of this man's corrupt activities and abusive behaviors.

If the SJC knows this guy abuses his power, how can they send him to another courthouse full of potential future victims?

 

[Ohiogal]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Massachusetts

Barnstable District Court Chief Clerk Magistrate Robert E. Powers has been disciplined and removed by the Supreme Judicial Court. It was alleged that Robert E. Powers failed to uphold the standards of the office through "unpredictable, disrespectful and sometime aggressive conduct as clerk magistrate.

Now that he's been re-assigned, people are coming out of the woodwork to tell their stories of this man's corrupt activities and abusive behaviors.

If the SJC knows this guy abuses his power, how can they send him to another courthouse full of potential future victims?

Where does it state he was re-assigned? He was disciplined and removed.

ETA: Found articles. But how was he disciplined. What were the findings of the Supreme Judicial Court. All that matters.

 

[dlw99]

He's being reassigned today by District Court Chief Justice Lynda Connolly.

Gonsalves: No room for abusive conduct | CapeCodOnline.com

Re: Ohio Gal "But how was he disciplined. What were the findings of the Supreme Judicial Court. All that matters."

Hearing will be scheduled for about a month from now. In the meantime, they just say he was "disciplined and removed". He was suspended for two weeks back in October or November, and I'm not sure there's a "chief magistrate" position open, so he may have to accept a cut in pay, I really don't know. The question is, if they found cause to remove him from Barnstable for failing to uphold the standards of the office, how can they put him anywhere else???

 

[Hot Topic]

What's your stake in this matter? In other words, why do you care? Have you had dealings with this person? Or are you just a Crusader Rabbit?

 

[dlw99]

What's your stake in this matter? In other words, why do you care? Have you had dealings with this person? Or are you just a Crusader Rabbit?

Suffice it to say I care deeply that this guy gets what's coming to him.

My question remains:

Is the magistrate's position so powerful that they can't fire him for not doing his job?

 

[Hot Topic]

Unlikely they'll fire him to satisfy a vendetta.

 

[davew128]

Unlikely they'll fire him to satisfy a vendetta.

Depends on who has the vendetta. This is Mass after all, job qualification never matter when it comes to matters of hiring and firing. It's who you know.

 

[Ohiogal]

Suffice it to say I care deeply that this guy gets what's coming to him.

My question remains:

Is the magistrate's position so powerful that they can't fire him for not doing his job?

He is innocent until proven guilty. If he hasn't had a hearing yet then he has NOT had a chance to hear the evidence against, present evidence on his own behalf and receive due process of law.

 

[dlw99]

He is innocent until proven guilty. If he hasn't had a hearing yet then he has NOT had a chance to hear the evidence against, present evidence on his own behalf and receive due process of law.

Right. So if that's true, why remove him from Barnstable?

About 6 months ago, a local DJ accused several police officers of beating him up at a sports bar. He brought considerable evidence to the hearing with Powers, but Powers refused to charge the cops. The local DA asked a judge to formally review the evidence again, and the cops have now been charged.

This is one of hundreds of cases where the magistrate's motives have been called into question. Powers has publicly called all of them "crazy".

When other state employees, like cops for example, are alleged to have committed crimes, they're often put on paid leave until the outcome of their respective cases. Why not in this case?

 

[dlw99]

Unlikely they'll fire him to satisfy a vendetta.

It's genuinely interesting to me that you characterize a desire for justice as a vendetta. I've heard others make similar conclusions when people come here looking for answers when they've been abused.

I'm aware that guilty people come here posing as victims looking for technicalities to slide out of charges. I've seen parents with custody and NCPs come here with wild allegations, childish attitudes and selfish motives, and I understand your skepticism.

However this magistrate is, by many credible accounts, out of control.

In what case would you see a person's desire for a guilty party to be found guilty and punished as something other than a vendetta? How did you come to see this case as a vendetta? The magistrate has been accused by hundreds of actively hurting people on a daily/weekly and/or monthly basis for five years. How is wanting him to be stopped a vendetta? I'm not angry about your response, I'm genuinely curious. Thank you.

 

[Hot Topic]

No answer is going to satisfy you.

 

[dlw99]

No answer is going to satisfy you.

I'm not looking to be satisfied. I'm just curious about the process that took you to characterizing a mass protest as a "vendetta".

Obviously you didn't think it through, so you chose to belittle.

There is a culture on this blog that attacks first, and asks questions later. I'm not whining about it, but just making the observation. It's a shame, really, because there are some genuinely helpful people here. You don't appear to be one of them, however.

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Massachusetts

Barnstable District Court Chief Clerk Magistrate Robert E. Powers has been disciplined and removed by the Supreme Judicial Court. It was alleged that Robert E. Powers failed to uphold the standards of the office through "unpredictable, disrespectful and sometime aggressive conduct as clerk magistrate.

Now that he's been re-assigned, people are coming out of the woodwork to tell their stories of this man's corrupt activities and abusive behaviors.

If the SJC knows this guy abuses his power, how can they send him to another courthouse full of potential future victims?

**A: simple; it's called politics and the old boy network. So Judge Powers may not have really lost all his powers.

 

[dlw99]

**A: simple; it's called politics and the old boy network. So Judge Powers may not have really lost all his powers.

Thanks. He's a magistrate - not a judge. Clearly the good ole boy network is how he got the position (a favor from Mitt Romney). The same network is what allowed him to carry on like a little Napoleon for five years. I get that.

What I don't get is how the SJC can find cause to remove him from Barnstable for abuse of power, and then ship him to another courthouse in Taunton where there's a high risk he'll keep it up. It reminds me of the pedophile priests who were moved from Parish to Parish.

I was hoping to hear from someone who understands the position of magistrate in the Massachusetts court system: Why are their appointments for life? Why are their powers so broad? How often does the MA SJC dethrone out of control magistrates?

 

[davew128]

1) The SJC had nothing to do with whats already transpired. Did you actually read the article?
2) Moving him from Barnstable to Taunton is a bigger spotlight. Until the SJC issues its decision, HE CAN'T BE FIRED. Being appointed to a magistrate position is a lifetime appointment unless removed for cause by the SJC. I already knew this, but again IT WAS IN THE ARTICLE.
3) The person moving him isn't the SJC it's the District Court Chief Justice. Again, this was in the article....