Melvin B. Miller
Editor & Publisher

Healey’s injustice

Life extends to everyone countless opportunities to help others. Most people find that these divine invitations are too inconvenient, but not Deval Patrick. He is committed to fairness, compassion and justice.

In 1998, Patrick wrote a letter on behalf of Benjamin LaGuer, a convicted rapist who had already served 15 years in prison and was eligible for parole. Patrick became involved for two reasons. There was substantial evidence that the prosecution was flawed, and he became convinced that LaGuer had attained a state of mind that made it unlikely that he could commit such a crime in the future.

For some inexplicable reason, a Boston journalist seems to believe that such concern for justice is inappropriate in a candidate for governor. Or could it be that this journalist’s objective was simply to make mischief?

What could possibly be the relevance of whether Patrick contributed to the cost of the DNA test for LaGuer, or how much Patrick might have contributed, or when? That Patrick is unclear about the answer to such questions indicates that he has the heart of a generous man. Does it not say in the Good Book in regard to charity, “… Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth?”

The sudden uproar over LaGuer generates new interest in the facts of the case. In 1983 an intruder entered the house of a 59-year-old woman who was described as having mental problems. She was raped repeatedly over an eight-hour period and tied up with the cord from her princess telephone. She was at first unable to describe her assailant except to note that he was dark-skinned and of medium build.

Later, with the help of the police, she was able to identify her assailant as Benjamin LaGuer, the tenant in the adjacent apartment — someone whom she had seen frequently. LaGuer was tried and convicted by an all-white jury. The victim’s identification was the only evidence in the case.

Excluded from the trial was the report on fingerprints taken from the telephone. The fingerprints did not belong to LaGuer. The police did not surrender this report until 2001. By that time, LaGuer had already served 18 years.

One of the jurors reported that there was scarcely any deliberation on the evidence in the case. Jurors became obsessed with the fact that the victim is white and LaGuer is an African American. The question of whether the trial was conducted properly is still being debated. LaGuer’s lawyers at the distinguished law firm of Goodwin Procter filed a motion for a new trial last month.

Dozens of prominent citizens joined LaGuer’s quest for justice. All were disappointed when a 2002 DNA test indicated he may have been involved in the crime. There have been challenges by experts as to the validity of the test. And well there might be, after the way the police handled the fingerprint evidence.

Patrick’s opponent has attacked him for standing up against injustice. It is now clear that she would be a governor devoid of compassion. The Romney-Healey administration has been stingy in support of projects that benefit the working class, but generous with their affluent peers. They spent $12 billion in cost overruns on the “Big Dig” without even voicing their opposition.

The muckraking journalism about Benjamin LaGuer, undoubtedly published to help ignite Kerry Healey’s campaign, has for some voters had the reverse effect. It demonstrated that Deval Patrick would go out of his way to help a victim of injustice when he had nothing to gain. The response from the Healey campaign has shown that she would not.