Canton Cover-Up Part 290: SJC Overturns Dedham District Court Decision Revoking Turtleboy’s Bail For 90 Days

Donate to the Turtleboy Legal Defense Fund

This morning Justice Kafker overruled Judge McCallum’s district court ruling revoking Turtleboy’s bail for 90 days. Judge McCallum was overruled because you cannot revoke Superior Court bail for more than 60 days, according to the law. This means Turtleboy will not be in jail any longer than February 23.

Justice Kafker also ordered Judge McCallum to submit his reasoning for why Turtleboy is a danger to the community by no later than 4:00 pm Tuesday. The law requires judges to explain why a defendant is dangerous in writing, but Judge McCallum failed to do so. After McCallum submits this, Justice Kafker will rule on whether or not to immediately release Turtleboy from jail before February 23.

This is a massive victory for Team Turtleboy because the state’s highest court has ruled that a judge and prosecutor failed to follow basic protocol in sentencing a man to jail who has not been convicted of any crime. It is humiliating for a judge whenever one of their rulings is overturned by a high court. If they screwed up on something so basic, then what else did they screw up on? We hope that today’s ruling is the beginning of the end to this unjust prosecution of an award-winning journalist.

Turtleboy’s next court hearing is on Friday, February 16 in Norfolk Superior Court. Judge Kafker’s ruling will determine whether or not he shows up in shackles or on his own accord. We hope to see many of you there at 2:00 pm on Friday to show your support for Turtleboy.