On Wednesday, Pittsfield, Massachusetts lawyer Timothy Shugrue was sworn in as district attorney of Berkshire County. Just before entering Superior Court for the ceremony, he spoke with WAMC about key staffing appointments in his administration, his interest in continuing a data-sharing program with Duke University about the office’s plea agreements, and his relationship with retired Judge Daniel Ford- his mentor and a former Berkshire prosecutor whose record has faced criticism. Shugrue spoke with WAMC about his early goals.
SHUGRUE: We're ready to go. You know, it's been three months of transition. So, we're working our tails off getting ready. We started, had a jury trial start this morning in a jury of six and we've got Superior Courts starting next week. So, we're all armed and ready to go. So, we had a good meeting. We've been working since eight o'clock this morning. I got officially sworn in at 8am, so, we've been working all day already.
WAMC: So, talk to us about appointments- what are some of the big names who are filling these crucial posts in your administration?
We hired Marianne Shelvey, who has been a US Attorney for the last 10 years, former assistant district attorney in Berkshire County from 1991, I think to 2013, or something like, maybe 2009- She was there a number of years, 14 years, she’s got 24 years of experience. Kelly Kemp, she comes from [Anthony Gulluni’s] office, DA Gulluni who’s in Hampden County. She comes in, and she's been running training and doing community outreach for Springfield. We also hired a Community Relations Director, that's Julia Sabourin. And we brought in Rachael Eramo, a former prosecutor in the office as well for many years. So, between myself having 36 years, Kelly Kemp having 33 years, and Marianne Shelvey having 24 years, I think we have a lot of good experience. We had a nice meeting with all the [assistant district attorneys] this morning. They're all excited, they're willing to get going, they can't wait to start, and we're excited to get going.
Now, there was recent coverage in the Eagle about your efforts to maybe bring in your wife as part of the team. Can you speak to that a little bit? You guys have a unique working relationship.
Yeah, we have a really unique working relationship. We worked together for 18 years, and she's been my right-hand person. She’s got a Master's in Public Administration, and she's just tremendous. She did, as you know, she did a great job in the campaign. She did a great job assisting us during the transition period while she was still working for me. But we knew there was an uphill battle. I knew that when I ran and she knew it, that there was a possibility she couldn't work for us. So, before I would even think about hiring her, I called the Ethics Commission, we went on for a couple of months back and forth about whether or not she could work for somebody else within the office, and then whether or not she had someone else to supervise her. But they finally came to determination, because I'm the ultimate boss, that she couldn't do it, and we were fine with it. So, she's moving on and she'll be seeking to get another job.
So, I'm interested- Looking at this first year, what does the next month look like for you? What initiatives are we going to see coming out of the office?
Well, we’ve got to reestablish the juvenile diversion program, so we're going to be doing that right off the bat. I'm already doing, I’m in the schools tomorrow, I'm going to be doing the DARE graduation. That's why I brought Julia Sabourin in. And we have a bunch of outreach, we're going to be meeting with the downtown Pittsfield business people next week, give them, listen to their concerns. We're going to be getting the Superior Court trial list running and hopefully trying a lot of cases this month. So, we have a lot on the agenda. So, the biggest thing is really to get us up and running, get the trials moving, get the office running that way, at the same time too, starting our community outreach and starting our diversion programs. I spent two hours with [Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early] on last Thursday in Worcester. I've met with Dave Sullivan in Hampshire County – he’s the DA there – for a couple hours twice now. And I've been talking with Tony Gulluni, the DA in Hampden County. And so, they've been very helpful in assisting me with the transition as well.
Do you have any interest in continuing the program that DA Harrington initiated with Duke University about sharing information about plea agreements with the Wilson Center for Science and Justice?
Yes, we're looking into that. I don't know how it runs yet. So, when I get to take a look at it- I just saw the data that came out last week, which I thought was very encouraging, very good to see. So, we would be happy to once I take a look at it. So, I again, I have, this my first day in the office, I haven't seen anything yet. So, when I get a chance to start seeing things, I’ll be able to respond to that.
Lastly, on your election night, you credited your legal mentor, Judge Daniel Ford. He has a complex history and a complex reputation. Could you speak a little bit to some of that aspect of his legacy?
Well, I don't think since he’s been on the bench he's had a real bad legacy. I think his legacy has been tremendous on the bench. And since he's been on the bench, he's been a tremendous jurist. He's been recognized by everybody as being a tremendous jurist. I appeared before him on his very first superior court case in Springfield as a prosecutor. And I tried his first case, which, I was a prosecutor. We won that case. I tried his very last case in 2019 as defense lawyer, and I won that case. So, we've had some sort of rapport appearing in front of him all these years, and my opinion, when he's been on the bench, he's been nothing but a spectacular judge. I know you’re going back to look at the Bernie Baran case, way back in the 80s when things weren't done right on how the prosecution was done. And that case, in particular, Lenny Conway was a defense lawyer who didn't have much experience, and there was really an ineffective assistance claim on that case as well as you might recall. So, we understand that, but I also knew, when I started prosecuting child abuse cases in 1986, we would try and teach people do it the right way, because we were inundated in 1986 with the mandatory reporting law, so there was a lot of child abuse cases that came in real fast. So, I don't follow anything more than that. But I can say that as a judge, he has been nothing but a tremendous judge, and I think he's been recognized as that throughout all of the state.
