Norfolk County ‘ready for real change’ from embattled DA Michael Morrissey as race grows

Candidates operating for Norfolk County District Legal professional say the rising subject alerts that residents are “ready for real change” from the embattled Michael Morrissey, with a former federal prosecutor the most recent to enter the fray.

Adam Deitch, who led the federal investigation into the dying of Boston police officer John O’Keefe, says he has obtained an “incredible response from Norfolk County residents” since launching his marketing campaign on Tuesday.

Deitch, who additionally investigated the following state investigation and prosecution of O’Keefe’s girlfriend, Karen Learn, joins Dedham resident Djuna Perkins and Cohasset resident Craig MacLellan as candidates seeking to take over the Norfolk DA’s workplace.

“I’m looking forward to spending all of my time over the next year,” Deitch informed the Herald on Wednesday, “talking with voters across the county about my positive vision for the future of the District Attorney’s Office.”

“Given my experience as a federal prosecutor focused on corruption cases – working to put a microscope to entrenched institutions,” he added, “including right here in Norfolk County – I believe I am uniquely qualified for this job, in this moment.”

The federal investigation that Deitch led into O’Keefe’s dying and Learn’s prosecution didn’t lead to any expenses, however the grand jury was acknowledged typically throughout Learn’s homicide trials.

Morrissey, 70, has but to announce whether or not he intends to run for a fifth, four-year time period in subsequent November’s election. He has served as Norfolk County’s lead prosecutor since being elected in 2010. His workplace didn’t reply to a Herald inquiry on Wednesday.

“I think the level of interest in this race shows that the people of Norfolk County are ready for real change in the District Attorney’s office,” Deitch mentioned.

Shortly after a jury acquitted Learn of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend in June, a ballot surfaced exhibiting that an awesome majority of Norfolk County residents are able to elect a brand new DA.

Opinion Diagnostics, a Massachusetts-based polling and market analysis agency, discovered that solely 4% of 1,170 Norfolk County residents who met the {qualifications} to be chosen as jurors and responded to a post-verdict survey “affirmatively believe” Morrissey deserves reelection.

Deitch introduced his marketing campaign the identical day that Learn sued witnesses from her homicide case, who she argues framed her for the killing of O’Keefe and are “actually involved” in his dying.

In his marketing campaign announcement, Deitch mentioned he’s “seen firsthand what occurs when police and prosecutors take shortcuts, rush to judgment, after which stubbornly gained’t think about different potentialities – harmless individuals are wrongfully accused, crimes go unsolved, and dangerous cops are protected whereas good officers lose religion.

“That’s what we need to change in Norfolk County,” he added.

Perkins and MacLellan, each former Suffolk County prosecutors, have additionally been vital of Morrissey’s dealing with of the Learn prosecution. Cash and sources poured into her two homicide trials might have been higher utilized in different high-level instances which have thrust the Norfolk DA’s Workplace into the highlight, they’ve argued.

These instances, amongst others, embrace the dying of Sandra Birchmore, a 23-year-old Canton resident who authorities mentioned was strangled to dying in 2021 by a Stoughton cop whereas pregnant; and the dying of Ana Walshe, a 39-year-old mom of three, allegedly dismembered by her husband, Brian Walshe, of Cohasset.

MacLellan, who served as a Suffolk Assistant District Legal professional after which an investigating employees lawyer on the Massachusetts Fee on Judicial Conduct, says he expects to see the candidate subject develop much more within the coming weeks, and he’s “grateful to be among them.”

“The manner in which the Norfolk County DA’s Office serves residents needs to be completely reimagined by applying an approach that builds awareness, seeks community input, and earns trust,” MacLellan, a training protection lawyer, informed the Herald on Wednesday.

“Having a full field of accomplished candidates is a great first step towards electing a DA that will restore our community’s confidence in its criminal justice ‘complex,’” he added.

Perkins, who introduced her candidacy in September 2024, simply days after MacLellan mentioned he’d discover a run, labored as a Massachusetts assistant lawyer basic within the Nineteen Nineties. She then served because the Suffolk DA’s chief of the home violence unit from 1997 to 2002.

Perkins informed the Herald on Wednesday that she “welcomes” Deitch to the race.

“It is clear that voters want to put an end to the scandal and failed prosecutions in the Norfolk DA’s office, and I know that my unrivaled 30+ years experience as an attorney helping hundreds of Massachusetts families get justice for some of the most heinous crimes imaginable, and having served as an Assistant District Attorney and Assistant Attorney General in Massachusetts state courts, best suits me to do so.”