State supreme court: DA must name officers in police misconduct investigations

FALL RIVER — The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office can no longer withhold the identities of police officers it is investigating in cases of possible police misconduct on privacy grounds, according to a ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

The 37-page ruling was released Friday over an appeal brought by Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III after Fall River resident Eric Mack filed a public records lawsuit in Suffolk County Superior Court against Quinn's office and won.

A Superior Court judge in March 2023 ordered Quinn to release records from an investigation after the shooting death of Mack’s brother, 30-year-old Black man Anthony Harden, which involved two Fall River officers.

The DA’s office released some records, but refused to release the names of officers Chelsea Campellone and Michael Sullivan. It filed an appeal on that issue and others it claimed were exempt from the public records law.

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In November 2021, Campellone and Sullivan responded to Harden's Melville Street apartment after Fall River police received a domestic complaint from his girlfriend regarding an incident two days earlier. Two minutes after their arrival and as the police attempted to arrest him, Harden allegedly tried to stab Sullivan with a steak knife. Campellone reportedly shot Harden twice in the torso. He was later pronounced dead at Saint Anne’s Hospital.

Harden had been on home confinement and awaiting trial in connection to a 2019 standoff with Fall River police. In that incident, Harden allegedly wielded a small sword as he held up his then-5-month-old infant as a barrier to Fall River police in a 3½-hour standoff that started as a domestic call where his ex-wife accused him of rape.

Harden had been set to go to trial for a felony count of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14; assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; and misdemeanor charges of assault and battery and reckless endangerment of a child.

The DA’s office cleared Campellone and Sullivan of any wrongdoing in an initial report published a month after the fatal shooting in December 2021, saying it was a justified use of force.

The Bristol County DA’s office argued that the names of the police officers under investigation and other investigation records were prohibited from disclosure due to the privacy exemption under the public records statute.

But the SJC pointed to police reform legislation passed in the commonwealth in 2020.

“Among other provisions, this act amended the privacy exemption of the public records law and established the POST commission to increase transparency in law enforcement investigations,” wrote Justice Frank M. Gaziano. “The privacy exemption does not apply to an ‘investigation’ of law enforcement misconduct.”

The SJC also rejected Quinn’s claim that he was justified in not releasing the identities of Campellone and Sullivan because the investigation did not result in criminal charges against the two officers.

“To require the investigation to end with a finding of police misconduct places the cart before the horse and runs counter to the goals of police accountability and transparency,” according to the opinion.

Mack calls opinion a ‘significant ruling’

Since his brother’s death, Mack and his family have questioned and at times disputed the DA’s findings that cleared Campellone and Sullivan. He called the SJC’s ruling “making history.”

“This is a very significant ruling for the citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” said Mack, an attorney and Fall River resident. “It will help everybody to now hold government officials accountable.”

Mack said he’s looking forward to obtaining the public records and then determining the next steps. Harden’s family have given the city of Fall River notice of a likely lawsuit in his death.

“It remains to be seen what they’ve withheld in the past 2½ years,” said Mack.

His attorney, Howard Friedman, said he believed the SJC ruling was an “excellent decision.”

“They found virtually all the issues in our favor,” said Friedman. “It seemed like quite a stretch to argue that the statute was only referring to investigations that concluded there was misconduct. It’s not what the language says, and it wouldn’t be very meaningful if it said that. I wish we could have settled this without even going to the SJC.”

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DA sought clarification of statute

In an email, Gregg Miliote, communications director for the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, said the appeal was filed “to seek guidance on the 2020 amendment in law enforcement misconduct investigations, the privacy exemption and the creation of the POST Commission, because there had been no appellate decisions on the amendment.”

“The SJC decision clarified the legal issues associated with the release of the identities of police officers involved in fatal police shootings, regardless of any finding of misconduct. Another legal issue is still pending and has been sent back to the trial court for further findings of fact. Therefore, we cannot comment on that issue until it is resolved,” wrote Miliote.

The SJC remanded the issue of whether Quinn must release video interviews recorded during the investigation into Harden’s death. The District Attorney’s office argues they are exempted from the public records law, due to their investigatory nature.

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Miliote said the DA’s office is “very pleased” with the SJC ruling that exempts records that are draft reports containing attorney’s opinions.

“We consider this essential to the performance of our duties,” wrote Miliote.

The DA’s spokesperson did not respond to the question of when Mack will receive the public records.

Legal actions between Mack, DA's office are not over

Mack has a separate case before the SJC involving Quinn. In 2022, he petitioned the state’s highest court to remove Quinn from office, a ruling that the SJC hasn’t done in decades.

In the Supreme Court decision to release records into the Harden death investigation, the judge ordered the DA’s office to pay Mack $44,000 in attorney fees. Friedman said Mack has not yet been compensated by the DA because of the SJC matter, and that amount could rise due to the expenses incurred in the appeal.

The Fall River Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: SJC rules in DA public records appeal; IDs of police not exempt