GOP-led bill to oust judge dies in House
Rep: ‘His focus was on protecting an immigrant from being deported’
Republican lawmakers pressing to remove a Salem Superior Court judge from the bench over sentencing and bail decisions saw their efforts snuffed out yesterday on the floor of the House.
Rep. Jim Lyons (R-Andover) called for his long-shot bill of address to initiate the removal of Judge Timothy Q. Feeley and asked the House to suspend procedural rules so it could be brought to a vote.
Rep. Byron Rushing (D-Boston) objected to the rules being suspended, and that was it.
For months, Lyons and others had pressed for Feeley’s removal after he gave probation — instead of jail time — to a convicted heroin dealer in the middle of the opioid epidemic, and in connection with his lowering the bail of a man who would later shoot and kill a Maine sheriff’s deputy. Lyons’ proposal had 40 co-sponsors, including two Democrats.
“We as legislators have the authority and the duty and the responsibility to provide the checks and balances necessary when we have a judiciary that goes rogue,” Lyons told reporters yesterday morning before trying to force a vote on his removal bill.
The state constitution empowers lawmakers to remove a judge with a simple majority vote, followed by approval from the governor and the governor’s council.
Thirty-two state representatives wrote a letter to Chief Justice of the Superior Court Judith Fabricant regarding Feeley.
Fabricant saw no issue with Feeley’s judgment, saying: “Judge Feeley has served on the Superior Court for the past 10 years. In that time, he has ruled on innumerable matters, both criminal and civil, and has earned widespread respect for his scholarship, dedication, courage, and compassion.”
“I have absolute confidence in his ability to continue to perform his duties as required in all matters,” Fabricant added.
Feeley’s probation sentence for the drug dealer raised concerns after a hearing transcript showed he commented that he would have sent the man — a legal permanent resident with a green card — to serve time if he were a U.S. citizen and wouldn’t face deportation.
The man, Manuel Soto-Vittini, was later taken into federal immigration custody after a review of his conviction, which violated his terms of status in the United States.
Lyons said Feeley’s consideration of Soto-Vittini’s immigration status amounted to a violation of equal justice.
“Equal justice under the law is not trying to use dispossessions to lessen the effect of immigration consequences,” Lyons said. “His focus was not on protecting the mothers and the fathers and the policemen. His focus was on protecting an immigrant from being deported.”
Rep. Geoff Diehl (R-Whitman), a U.S. Senate candidate, said the bail-lowering and breaks given to a convicted drug dealer could actually embolden criminals.