Yes, another..."I"m DONE" thread :)

I was in front of King all the time back then. It was hilarious. He would eat shelled peanuts he kept in his drawer and sometimes would throw them into the dock and the prisoners would scramble for them. He would be imprisoned nowadays for such non-PC antics.....he was a good guy, very good guy......has since passed on, though. Dolan and Outlaw were the other two regular judges there. I was there as an ADA 1982 to about 1985 then into private practice---and yes, that new courthouse is like a hotel---but the judges there are tough...they fill the jails and houses of correction....tough court

 

Judge King was awesome.....when he did arraignments, he'd tell the court officers "Allright, bring all the guilty people in here".

He also once had a surgeon from Mass General appear 2 hours late for an OUI trial, with the excuse he was waiting for his shirt to dry. He called for the probation report, which showed he made well over $100,000 (in 1980's money). He said "Dr. Drinksalot (he actually used that term), I find it very hard to believe that a man of your financial status only owns one dress shirt. Court officers, take the doctor into custody". He'd also remand defendants into custody who showed up for trial wearing anything less than a shirt and tie, unless they were already in custody.

He eventually got transferred to Stoughton Court to hear only civil trials after he made an outrageous remark about a domestic violence victim asking for it. You're right......he was as non-PC as they came. His brother was also the former Governor of MA, Ed King.

 

He was a funny guy...his big thing was child support, remember? He would stop a trial in progress, some serious felony trial, all because the victim said something about having a child with the defendant. Judge King would hold up his hand, and say whoa whoa whoa, ma'am is he sending child support?????

A couple of us had lunch with him once in awhile at Nanina's, down Melville Ave on Dorchester Ave??
and he heard that three of us did impressions of him and he asked me to do mine in front of him. Right in Nanina's during lunch. It was embarrassing but luckily for me he got a big kick out of it....Probation officers Skinner and McDonough in Dorchester Court, were the other two Judge King Impressionists

 

Bruce, now that I think about it more and more, I'm sure you and I have had cases together in the past, and many conversations. Trying to put the name with a face, though. But your name is mighty familiar the longer I think about this.

Apologies to the original poster---Bruce and I are PMing also, but sorry to take up space on this thread with a long walk down memory lane.

 

HAHAHA!!!!! Yup.....that showed what a great guy he was, always concerned about the children. Not really concerned about anyone else except children and cops, but he was a softie for children. I always appreciated the fact that he would turn to the police witness area and ask who worked the midnight shift the night before, and would take those cases first, so we could get out of there ASAP.

My lasting memory of him is when I was testifying at a motions hearing for a cocaine trafficking and firearms case, and I was standing in the old witness box that was about 4 feet off the ground. The defendant was a career criminal who was facing life in prison if he was convicted in superior court, and the defense had some valid points about the scope of the search. At one point I looked over at Judge King, and he was doing a crossword puzzle.

 

You probably eviscerated me a couple of times in my early years.....like all rookies, I sucked at testifying initially, and got better only through experience. I had some defense lawyers give me pointers after some trials, which I really appreciated.

 

Let me know sometime if you will be in West Rox? I'll leave you my office number via PM, Bruce

 

Great accomplishment indeed!

 

Wow! How did I miss this thread? Congratulations on your great achievement. You should be proud of this major accomplishment.

 

Congratulations!