Lawyer for indicted judge lands $127G in public $$ from court
The $127,000 taxpayers paid for Judge Shelley Richmond Joseph is all going to her lawyer’s firm in one check now being cut, the Trial Court said in response to a Herald public records request.
Trial Court officials had refused to reveal who was being paid the six-figure sum. On Tuesday, they relented “in the interest of transparency,” Daniel Sullivan, general counsel for the court, wrote.
“The Trial Court is currently processing a single payment of $127,010.53 to Libby Hoopes, P.C. for legal services provided to Justice Joseph,” Sullivan added.
Attorney Thomas Hoopes, who did not return messages left by the Herald on Tuesday, is representing the judge in her federal court case. He has said he’ll now work pro bono.
The court also said a “single payment of $2,500” is being sent to the firm of Conn Kavanaugh Rosenthal Peisch & Ford LLP, “for legal services provided to retired” court officer Wesley MacGregor.
Taxpayers stopped picking up the legal bills for both Joseph and MacGregor when they were indicted on federal obstruction charges in April.
Both Joseph of Natick and MacGregor of Watertown are accused of helping an illegal immigrant facing drug charges escape out the basement door at Newton District Court a year ago to evade Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
Joseph was suspended without pay after she was indicted, but has appealed to have her $184,600 annual salary reinstated. MacGregor was earning $83,344 a year before his recent retirement.
Joseph and MacGregor have both pleaded not guilty and have been released on their own recognizance.
State Rep. David DeCoste (R-Plymouth) said he intends to file a “claw-back amendment” in an attempt to get all the money spent paying the judge and former clerk’s legal bills back.
“This is the type of thing that makes people cynical. What a disgrace,” DeCoste said. “We need common sense changes to make sure taxpayers are not on the hook to defend judges.”
DeCoste said any such payment should be approved by the governor or the governor’s council.
“Some people in my district don’t even make that much money in a year,” he said of the $127,000 legal bill for the judge. “It’s frustrating.”