The Fence - Dick Lehr [172]
Bobby took the second polygraph on January 14, 2000. The examiner was a retired air force lieutenant colonel who’d administered numerous polygraph exams in the military and afterward. He asked questions chosen by police officials. Bobby passed with flying colors. Two weeks later, he returned to active duty. His beef with the department wasn’t entirely over, however. He still had to fight the Evans administration to reclaim income lost while he was on leave. But by 2008, his career seemed back on track. Widely regarded as a tough, honest cop, he worked for a while in the Anti-Corruption Unit. He was then promoted to lieutenant and assigned to oversee the night shift in Roxbury.
Then there were Craig Jones’s travails. Several years after the jury’s verdict in Mike’s case, he suddenly found himself under investigation for his punching of Tiny Evans at Woodruff Way. The question was whether Craig had used excessive or justifiable force. The department on January 11, 2002—seven years after Mike’s beating—decided against him. He was suspended for nine months. Flummoxed, he appealed, and the next year a labor arbitrator overturned the suspension. The arbitrator criticized the “extraordinary passage of time” in bringing the charges against Craig and then ruled “Jones was neither overzealous nor inappropriate in his exercise of force.” Noting Craig had no prior history of excessive force, she ruled there was no evidence that Craig “gratuitously punched Tiny Evans for no reason at all. Whether it was one punch or two, the evidence establishes Jones was reacting strictly to the suspect’s continued resistance to arrest even after he was handcuffed.” Craig may have won his arbitration, but his career path seemed to have hit a serious snag. He was moved out of the elite gang unit and assigned to a “traffic car” downtown. Craig missed the action of his former post.
APPENDIX A
COURT CASES
Michael P. Carney v. City of Springfield et al., 403 Mass. 604 (1988).
Castro v. Beecher, 334 F. Supp. 930 (1971).
Castro v. Beecher, 459 F.2d 725 (1st Cir. 1972).
Castro v. Beecher, 365 F. Supp. 655 (D. Mass. 1973).
Commonwealth v. Thomas Adams et al., Suffolk Superior Court, Massachusetts, civil docket 89–0046 (“Brighton 13 case”).
John L. Smith v. Thomas Adams et al., Suffolk Superior Court, Massachusetts, civil docket 91–3150.
Commonwealth v. Adams et al., 416 Mass. 558 (1993).
Commonwealth v. Robert Brown III, Dorchester District Court, criminal docket 93–1823.
Commonwealth v. Jimmy Evans, Suffolk Superior Court, Massachusetts, criminal docket 95–10237 (“Jackson murder trial”).
Commonwealth v. Robert Brown, Suffolk Superior Court, Massachusetts, criminal docket 95–10238 (“Jackson murder trial”).
Commonwealth v. Ronald Tinsley, Suffolk Superior Court, Massachusetts, criminal docket 95–10239 (“Jackson murder trial”).
Commonwealth v. John Evans, Suffolk Superior Court, Massachusetts, criminal docket 95–10190 (“Jackson murder trial”).
Cox et al. v. City of Boston et al., U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, civil docket 95–12729 (“Cox trial”).
Commonwealth v. Robert Brown III, Suffolk Superior Court, Massachusetts, criminal docket 97–11423.
United States v. Kenneth M. Conley, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, criminal docket 97–10213 (“Conley trial”).
United States v. Conley, 186 F.3d 7 (1st Cir. 1999).
United States v. Conley, 103 F. Supp. 2d 45 (D. Mass. 2000).
United States v. Conley, 249 F. 3d 38 (1st Cir. 2001).
United States v. Conley, 164 F. Supp. 2d 216 (D. Mass. 2001).
United States v. Conley, 323 F. 3d 7 (1st Cir. 2003) (en banc).
United States v. Conley, 332 F. Supp. 2d 302 (D. Mass. 2004).