Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley Has Drawn Both Praise and Criticism for Record Prosecuting Child Abuse
By Shira Schoenberg
A new ad attacking Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley's work on child welfare goes to the heart of Coakley's career as a prosecutor. The ad focuses on alleged mismanagement at the Department of Children and Families, an agency for which Coakley, the attorney general, has advocated reform even as she defended the department against a lawsuit. But the ad is particularly significant because Coakley's experience with child welfare goes back decades, and has earned her both praise and criticism. Coakley is opposed by Republican Charlie Baker and independents Evan Falchuk, Scott Lively and Jeff McCormick. In 1991, Coakley was appointed head of a child abuse division in the Middlesex District Attorney's office, which dealt with 900 cases a year of physical and sexual abuse. At a press conference Thursday, called for Coakley to respond to the ad, Coakley showed how personal the issue was for her, choking up briefly when she recalled an abuse victim who thanked her years later. "I've seen those kids and I've worked with them," Coakley said. But Coakley has faced criticism on at least a few cases. Perhaps the most well-known case involved the Amirault family. A mother and her adult son and daughter were convicted in the 1980s of sexual assault involving children at Fells Acres Day Care Center in Malden, a case that raised significant questions about the reliability of the children's testimony and led to years of appeals. One judge ordered a new trial for the women, but that ruling was reversed by the Supreme Judicial Court. Coakley, as district attorney, got involved after the prosecution, and helped negotiate a deal to commute the sentence of the adult daughter. But she also lobbied Republican Gov. Jane Swift not to commute the sentence of the son, despite a recommendation by the state's Board of Pardons. Some accused Coakley – along with the other prosecutors – of being overzealous. Asked about that case Thursday, Coakley said she stood by her work. She noted that the case went to the Supreme Judicial Court, which upheld the convictions, and three Republican governors declined to pardon the Amiraults. "When they looked at that record of those kids who had been abused, who testified about it with corroborating evidence, those Republican governors didn't change anything that happened in that case," Coakley said. In other cases, some observers faulted Coakley for being lax. During Coakley's 2010 U.S. Senate race, the Boston Globe reported on a 2005 case in which Somerville police officer Keith Winfield was accused of raping his 23-month-old niece. The Globe reported that a grand jury first declined to issue an indictment, until the child's mother filed an application for a criminal complaint. Once Winfield was indicted, Coakley, the Middlesex District Attorney, asked only for personal recognizance bail. Winfield was convicted under Coakley's successor. Republican attorney Larry Frisoli ran unsuccessfully against Coakley for attorney general in 2006, saying he was angered by her treatment of the case. Coakley at the time defended her office's actions, saying it is not unusual to take more than one grand jury to reach an indictment, especially when the child is too young to testify. She said given Winfield's local roots and lack of criminal record, her office did not think a judge would grant cash bail. When a reporter asked her about the Winfield and Amirault cases on Thursday, Coakley only addressed Amirault. The Boston Globe in 2009 also reported on a case in which Coakley negotiated a 1995 probation deal, in secret, for a priest accused of inappropriately touching three boys. Coakley would years later win praise for successfully prosecuting the same priest for inappropriately touching another boy. Coakley said she did not have enough evidence in the earlier case to prosecute the priest for indecent assault. The only crime she could identify was a misdemeanor of making harassing phone calls. Child protection advocates faulted her for not prosecuting the case publicly. Coakley said she has fought many "tough cases." She has pointed to her work protecting children, and working with doctors and with victims, in numerous other instances. Magi Bish, whose teenage daughter Molly was kidnapped and murdered, released a video in May supporting Coakley, which Coakley's campaign sent out again this week. Bish, whose daughter was missing for three years before her family found out she was dead, said Coakley "stood behind us, she stood with us, she's held our hands, she's done it for the Bish family, and she's done it for the missing children." On Thursday, Debbie Eappen attended a press conference to speak about Coakley's support as a lead prosecutor prosecuting Louise Woodward, a British au pair convicted of shaking to death Eappen's baby son, Matthew. The case drew international attention. "She was dedicated, compassionate, persevering. ... She was smart," Eappen said. Eappen said Coakley has continued to support her family's foundation that works to prevent child abuse. Coakley said she is proud of the work she has done bringing these cases, educating social workers, and "making sure we got it right even when public opinion is always all over the map on these cases." "They are emotional. They are hard," Coakley said. "I'm proud of fact people talk about the work we did in this case." Peter MacKinnon, president of the union representing DCF social workers, said Coakley took child abuse seriously as Middlesex District Attorney. "We saw the worst of the worse, " MacKinnon said. "Her team that was there and the legacy that remained after she left is evidence of how seriously Martha takes child abuse and how she will go after anyone who abuses kids." Maura Healey, a Democratic candidate for attorney general, and a former bureau chief in Coakley's office, said Coakley "spent her career fighting for the most vulnerable among us." Healey mentioned Coakley's work on the Eappen and Bish cases. Healey said Coakley has worked to put in place laws and policies to fight human trafficking, to fight bullying in schools, to develop agreements with social media companies to protect children from being preyed upon online, and to fight labor violations involving young people. sschoenberg@repub.com
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