Mass Judge
Spoonfeeds upper-class justice to North Shore equestrian. No rubbing shoulders with the masses for millionaire John J. Donovan, who shot himself in the gut, claiming thugs hired by his estranged son did it amid their $$$ dispute, sending cops on a wild goose chase. He’s sentenced to rake leaves on his own fox-hunting trails. Boston Herald:
A millionaire Internet guru who shot himself to frame his estranged son is poised to perform his mandatory “community service” work on a nonprofit trail system that includes part of his family owned land regularly used for fancy North Shore fox hunts.
John J. Donovan Sr. - a former MIT professor who was fined only $625 and sentenced to 200 hours of community service for the bizarre 2005 shooting incident - got approval from a Middlesex County Superior Court Judge in October to do his court-ordered community service for the Essex County Trail Association, according to court filings examined by the Herald.
The community service was OK’d, despite the advice of law-enforcement officials who wanted to see Donovan in jail, court records show.
“Raking leaves” in Hamilton isn’t enough of a punishment, especially if it’s on Donovan’s own property, said Frank Pasquarello, spokesman for the Cambridge police, which responded on the Dec. 16, 2005 night when Donovan staged his own shooting.
“There has to be a message sent that, if you’re going to fabricate a story, you’ve got to pay the penalty,” Pasquarello said. “There are a lot of people who worked hard that night. Have him come over and rake their leaves. I’d have him come here and work on my yard . . . but I don’t want a millionaire here. He’d probably want better coffee and there are no lattes here.”
Pasquarello recalled the night when police searched the city for the gunmen Donovan said had shot him.
“It was a difficult night,” he said. “We had officers up and down Mass. Ave. looking for the gunmen. The next day some people in the building were too scared to go to work.”
…
The Essex County Trail Association’s Web site lists among its trails the private “Sagamore Hill” property in Hamilton - which is controlled by the Donovan family, the association says. The sprawling Donovan land is part of a bitter legal dispute between Donovan and his adult children over a fortune estimated at $50 million and allegations he sexually abused one of his children, according to court filings.
Court records show that the senior Donovan unsuccessfully tried to do his community service via two other equestrian-related groups before Justice Kenneth Fishman approved the Essex County Trail gig on Oct. 10.
Fishman could not be reached for comment.
Donovan hangs his tackle at the la-di-da Myopia Hunt Club. More Mass judicial myopia here, here.
Topics: crime, punishment
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:33 am on Wednesday, December 5, 2007
2 Responses to “Mass Judge”
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December 5th, 2007 at 9:37 am
Yay, more judicial idiocy.
December 5th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
I see things haven’t improved much since Ted Kennedy had his day in court.