Conflict called out in extortion case
Joyce Linehan, Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s chief of policy and planning, is on the list of witnesses that federal prosecutors intend to call against her City Hall colleagues Kenneth Brissette and Timothy Sullivan, a new court filing reveals.
Linehan is named as a witness in Brissette’s and Sullivan’s extortion and conspiracy case in a motion that Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura J. Kaplan filed yesterday demanding attorney Thomas R. Kiley step aside as Sullivan’s counsel because he also represents Linehan.
Under similar pressure from U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz’s office, Kiley previously withdrew as counsel for another insider, Joseph Rull, Walsh’s former chief operating officer, according to Kaplan.
“The court should be aware that there is yet another witness represented by Mr. Kiley that the government intends to call at trial. That witness is Joyce Linehan, who is the chief of policy for the city of Boston,” Kaplan’s motion reads. “Given these multiple representations, Mr. Kiley cannot possibly offer conflict-free representation to defendant (Sullivan) and needs to withdraw as counsel for defendant. For this reason, he should be disqualified.”
Kaplan also put the court on notice she may even put Kiley on the witness stand to testify about a conversation he took part in with Rull and prosecutors about Sullivan, calling his continued work on the case “an untenable situation.”
Kiley told the Herald yesterday, “I will respond to the motion in due course.”
No trial date has been set for Brissette, Walsh’s director of tourism, sports and entertainment, and Sullivan, chief of staff for intergovernmental affairs. Both men were placed on leave after they were indicted.
Brissette has pleaded not guilty to extortion and conspiracy. Sullivan has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy. Prosecutors say the men tried to strong-arm the Boston Calling music festival to hire union labor in 2014 by threatening to withhold permits. Linehan discussed the festival with both men in emails released by City Hall. She could not immediately be reached for comment.