Post by WaTcHeR on Mar 16, 2006 11:26:48 GMT -5
03/16/2006 - Three days after being arrested by island police, County Sheriff Richard Bretschneider pleaded not guilty Monday in Nantucket District Court to charges he violated a protective order requested by his wife.
Bretschneider, 46, wore a blue blazer and stood solemnly among the other defendants in court with his attorney, James Merberg, during the arraignment. Judge W. James O’Neill released Bretschneider on personal recognizance with a special condition that he surrender all his firearms to the police department, although the weapons had previously been seized following the issuance of the restraining order and remained in the custody of police.
The sheriff entered the courtroom just before 10 a.m. and the arraignment lasted less than a minute. He was ordered to return to court April 10 for a pretrial conference.
Both Bretschneider and Merberg declined to comment about the criminal charge he now faces.
According to a police report filed in District Court, Bretschneider violated the no-contact provision of the protective order on March 7 when his wife, Elizabeth Bretschneider, said he followed her into the home of a friend and breached the seven-yard distance requirement of the order. The two women told police that Bretschneider left the home after they mentioned the protective order, but he returned only 15 minutes later and attempted to speak with his wife again, according to the report. Elizabeth Bretschneider reported the incident to police three days later on Friday, March 10.
Nantucket Police Chief Bill Pittman said officers had probable cause to make an arrest on that date, and contacted Merberg to inform him of the charge against Bretschneider. Pittman said Merberg presumably called his client, and Bretschneider turned himself in at the police station around 4 p.m. The sheriff was photographed and fingerprinted, but was never behind bars in the department’s lock-up facility, Pittman added.
“He was cooperative and didn’t make any statements,” Pittman said. “He did everything he should do.”
If convicted, Bretschneider faces a maximum sentence of 2 1/2 years in jail, along with $5,000 in fines. The court could also order the sheriff to attend a batterer’s treatment program and pay damages in the event of a guilty finding.
Elizabeth Bretschneider originally requested a restraining order on Feb. 21, stating in an affidavit filed with the court that she feared for her safety. Technically known as an abuse prevention order, or a 209A, the order prohibited the sheriff from abusing or contacting his wife, required him to stay away from her residence, and forbade him from coming within 25 yards of her.
Later that week, on March 2, the restraining order was vacated in Nantucket Probate and Family Court, and a judge issued a domestic relations protective order that did not contain a no-abuse provision. The new order allowed for the return of Bretschneider’s firearms, although he never retrieved them from the police department, and prohibited him from coming within seven yards of his wife or visiting her residence.
Although Pittman declined to reveal the number of weapons that were confiscated by the police department, he said that two fully automatic assault rifles that were purchased by Bretschneider for the sheriff’s department in 2004 were among the weapons that were seized and that the sheriff had officially signed over the ownership of the rifles to the police department prior to his arrest.
Bretschneider purchased the two M4A3 Bushmaster assault rifles and ammunition from Powderhorn Outfitters in Hyannis for $1,900. At the time, he claimed the firearms were purchased for “homeland security and law enforcement purposes” and that he was the only person authorized to use them.
However, after a Freedom of Information request filed by The Inquirer and Mirror in May 2005 revealed the existence of the assault rifles, a subsequent public records request filed in July showed that neither Bretschneider, nor his deputy sheriff Channing Egenberg, were certified or trained to use the firearms. Nearly three months after the public records request was submitted to his department, Bretschneider provided to The Inquirer and Mirror a letter from the Tisbury Police Department on Martha’s Vineyard that stated he had completed a Massachusetts Criminal Justice Training Council qualification course to use the rifles in September 2005.
Beth Stone, a spokesperson for Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly, would not comment specifically on the implications for Bretschneider if he is convicted of violating the protective order.
“We’re not involved in the prosecution,” Stone said. “That’s being handled by the District Attorney’s office.”
There is no provision within state elections law or the conflict-of-interest law pertaining to the removal or suspension of a sitting sheriff who is charged with a criminal offense. According to Massachusetts General Laws, only a majority of the justices of the state Supreme Judicial Court can order the removal of a sheriff from office based upon sufficient cause and if the “public good so requires.”
The court would only consider removing an elected sheriff upon receipt of a complaint or a summary hearing. Under the Town Code of Nantucket, the sheriff is not subject to a recall election, and there are no provisions that would force him to step aside due to a criminal charge.
A spokesperson for the Supreme Judicial Court refused to say who is authorized to submit a complaint regarding an elected sheriff. The section of Massachusetts General Laws regarding the removal of sheriffs by the court does not specify if a complaint can be submitted by ordinary citizens, the County Commissioners, the District Attorney or the Attorney General.
“Somebody has to recommend action, so there has to be a forcing function,” County Commissioner Whitey Willauer said. “Somebody should bring a concern to the Supreme Judicial Court. Who is going to be that party to raise the issue? It could be anybody. The County Commissioners could conceivably do that. It would be under their jurisdiction to raise that issue, but they can’t take direct action.”
Asked if the County Commissioners would discuss whether to submit a complaint to the Supreme Judicial Court, Willauer said, “I don’t want to go there yet.”
In 1994, the Supreme Judicial Court ordered the suspension of Middlesex County Sheriff John P. McGonigle while he faced a federal indictment on tax evasion charges. The justices found that the indictment constituted sufficient cause for the suspension, that the “public good” required the suspension while the charges were pending, and that the department’s special sheriff should assume the official duties of McGonigle’s office during the suspension.
McGonigle was convicted in 1994 on multiple tax charges for conspiring to disguise bribes and extortion payments from his deputies to himself and to illegally shift the tax liability for the same payments.
On Monday, a deputy sheriff with the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office, Sonny W. Levins, was charged with assaulting his wife, according to the Cape Cod Times. He was arraigned in Wareham District Court on a single charge of assault and battery, and has since been suspended without pay by Sheriff James Cummings. Deputy sheriffs are appointed, and are subject to oversight and discipline by the elected sheriff. Outside of the Supreme Judicial Court, there is no similar oversight body for elected sheriffs.
Bretschneider, 46, wore a blue blazer and stood solemnly among the other defendants in court with his attorney, James Merberg, during the arraignment. Judge W. James O’Neill released Bretschneider on personal recognizance with a special condition that he surrender all his firearms to the police department, although the weapons had previously been seized following the issuance of the restraining order and remained in the custody of police.
The sheriff entered the courtroom just before 10 a.m. and the arraignment lasted less than a minute. He was ordered to return to court April 10 for a pretrial conference.
Both Bretschneider and Merberg declined to comment about the criminal charge he now faces.
According to a police report filed in District Court, Bretschneider violated the no-contact provision of the protective order on March 7 when his wife, Elizabeth Bretschneider, said he followed her into the home of a friend and breached the seven-yard distance requirement of the order. The two women told police that Bretschneider left the home after they mentioned the protective order, but he returned only 15 minutes later and attempted to speak with his wife again, according to the report. Elizabeth Bretschneider reported the incident to police three days later on Friday, March 10.
Nantucket Police Chief Bill Pittman said officers had probable cause to make an arrest on that date, and contacted Merberg to inform him of the charge against Bretschneider. Pittman said Merberg presumably called his client, and Bretschneider turned himself in at the police station around 4 p.m. The sheriff was photographed and fingerprinted, but was never behind bars in the department’s lock-up facility, Pittman added.
“He was cooperative and didn’t make any statements,” Pittman said. “He did everything he should do.”
If convicted, Bretschneider faces a maximum sentence of 2 1/2 years in jail, along with $5,000 in fines. The court could also order the sheriff to attend a batterer’s treatment program and pay damages in the event of a guilty finding.
Elizabeth Bretschneider originally requested a restraining order on Feb. 21, stating in an affidavit filed with the court that she feared for her safety. Technically known as an abuse prevention order, or a 209A, the order prohibited the sheriff from abusing or contacting his wife, required him to stay away from her residence, and forbade him from coming within 25 yards of her.
Later that week, on March 2, the restraining order was vacated in Nantucket Probate and Family Court, and a judge issued a domestic relations protective order that did not contain a no-abuse provision. The new order allowed for the return of Bretschneider’s firearms, although he never retrieved them from the police department, and prohibited him from coming within seven yards of his wife or visiting her residence.
Although Pittman declined to reveal the number of weapons that were confiscated by the police department, he said that two fully automatic assault rifles that were purchased by Bretschneider for the sheriff’s department in 2004 were among the weapons that were seized and that the sheriff had officially signed over the ownership of the rifles to the police department prior to his arrest.
Bretschneider purchased the two M4A3 Bushmaster assault rifles and ammunition from Powderhorn Outfitters in Hyannis for $1,900. At the time, he claimed the firearms were purchased for “homeland security and law enforcement purposes” and that he was the only person authorized to use them.
However, after a Freedom of Information request filed by The Inquirer and Mirror in May 2005 revealed the existence of the assault rifles, a subsequent public records request filed in July showed that neither Bretschneider, nor his deputy sheriff Channing Egenberg, were certified or trained to use the firearms. Nearly three months after the public records request was submitted to his department, Bretschneider provided to The Inquirer and Mirror a letter from the Tisbury Police Department on Martha’s Vineyard that stated he had completed a Massachusetts Criminal Justice Training Council qualification course to use the rifles in September 2005.
Beth Stone, a spokesperson for Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly, would not comment specifically on the implications for Bretschneider if he is convicted of violating the protective order.
“We’re not involved in the prosecution,” Stone said. “That’s being handled by the District Attorney’s office.”
There is no provision within state elections law or the conflict-of-interest law pertaining to the removal or suspension of a sitting sheriff who is charged with a criminal offense. According to Massachusetts General Laws, only a majority of the justices of the state Supreme Judicial Court can order the removal of a sheriff from office based upon sufficient cause and if the “public good so requires.”
The court would only consider removing an elected sheriff upon receipt of a complaint or a summary hearing. Under the Town Code of Nantucket, the sheriff is not subject to a recall election, and there are no provisions that would force him to step aside due to a criminal charge.
A spokesperson for the Supreme Judicial Court refused to say who is authorized to submit a complaint regarding an elected sheriff. The section of Massachusetts General Laws regarding the removal of sheriffs by the court does not specify if a complaint can be submitted by ordinary citizens, the County Commissioners, the District Attorney or the Attorney General.
“Somebody has to recommend action, so there has to be a forcing function,” County Commissioner Whitey Willauer said. “Somebody should bring a concern to the Supreme Judicial Court. Who is going to be that party to raise the issue? It could be anybody. The County Commissioners could conceivably do that. It would be under their jurisdiction to raise that issue, but they can’t take direct action.”
Asked if the County Commissioners would discuss whether to submit a complaint to the Supreme Judicial Court, Willauer said, “I don’t want to go there yet.”
In 1994, the Supreme Judicial Court ordered the suspension of Middlesex County Sheriff John P. McGonigle while he faced a federal indictment on tax evasion charges. The justices found that the indictment constituted sufficient cause for the suspension, that the “public good” required the suspension while the charges were pending, and that the department’s special sheriff should assume the official duties of McGonigle’s office during the suspension.
McGonigle was convicted in 1994 on multiple tax charges for conspiring to disguise bribes and extortion payments from his deputies to himself and to illegally shift the tax liability for the same payments.
On Monday, a deputy sheriff with the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office, Sonny W. Levins, was charged with assaulting his wife, according to the Cape Cod Times. He was arraigned in Wareham District Court on a single charge of assault and battery, and has since been suspended without pay by Sheriff James Cummings. Deputy sheriffs are appointed, and are subject to oversight and discipline by the elected sheriff. Outside of the Supreme Judicial Court, there is no similar oversight body for elected sheriffs.