Historic Westport cruelty case cries out for fitting justice

Posted 11/29/17

To the editor:

Richard Medeiros, along with five of his tenant farmers, reappeared at Fall River Superior Court on November 17 for another pre-trail hearing on multiple counts of animal cruelty. …

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Historic Westport cruelty case cries out for fitting justice

Posted

To the editor:

Richard Medeiros, along with five of his tenant farmers, reappeared at Fall River Superior Court on November 17 for another pre-trail hearing on multiple counts of animal cruelty. As always, it was excruciating to watch.

The defense lawyers whined that the Attorney General’s Office hadn’t done their homework for them. They maintained there was so much Grand Jury discovery to sift through (3,800 pages), so much evidence involving so many defendants, and that the Massachusetts animal cruelty statute was so “broad and confusing” they couldn’t figure out with what exactly their clients had been charged.

Judge Thomas McGuire finally summed it up for them, saying it seemed to him the question was: “Have the defendants been properly notified of what the State has accused them of?” Assistant Attorney General Kristyn Dusel assured the court the defendants had received proper notification. Judge McGuire granted all defendants continuances of two to three months so their lawyers could catch up on their reading. Everyone stuck to their “not-guilty” pleas, with Medeiros’s attorney Karen Benson promising she would file to have her client’s case dismissed because burying animals is the proper, state-sanctioned way to disposed of animals that die on a farm.

Yet for all the lawyerly shenanigans on the defense side, the most disturbing statement by far came from AAG Dusel when she told the judge that the AG’s Office planned to recommend probation for all defendants. At least that is what eight of us who attended the proceedings left the courthouse believing she had said. We immediately posted a report of the proceedings on Facebook, calling on friends to telephone the AG’s Office to register their outrage and to demand jail time for animal abusers.

Several days later, Deputy Press Secretary Chloe Gotsis released the following statement: “The Westport Farm case is the largest investigation of animal cruelty in the history of New England. We have alleged that hundreds of animals suffered and died at the hands of Richard Medeiros and his tenants. We are committed to seeing that justice is served.”

I called a lead investigator from the Westport Police Department to ask about his understanding of where this was heading. It was his opinion that “most defendants will take some sort of plea bargain, which may include guilty findings, actual jail time or suspended jail sentences, probation, restitution and fines.” He said AAG Dusel had assured him that the minimum acceptable plea bargain would include a mix of these sanctions. “These are despicable, heinous crimes,” he said. “Everyone should go to jail.”

I sincerely hope that not every defendant will be allowed a plea bargain, most especially property owner and alleged mass gravedigger Richard Medeiros. Society needs to see some of these defendants on trial in a court of law. There are 35,000 pieces of photographic evidence, a 103-page police report, over 70 veterinarian reports, six months and hundreds of hours of grand jury discovery. Some of this evidence must be brought into court because only then will people grasp the wickedness of what went on for years on the Medeiros property.

People must go to prison. For if they do not go to prison this time around, then when will they ever?

Attorney General Maura Healey, please know we are grateful to read your office is “committed to seeing that justice is served.” This is the time to prove that animal cruelty is a serious crime in the Commonwealth. Your prosecutors are the only ones who can do that now.

Constance Gee

Westport

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.