'No evidence' of alleged affair between New Bedford judge, prosecutor in appeals case

NEW BEDFORD — Anonymous notes alleging a sexual relationship between a New Bedford District Court judge and a Bristol County prosecutor are the basis for an appeal of a man's indecent assault and battery conviction.

An appeal on a second man's conviction for indecent assault and battery is also being sought based on the notes.

The two appeals could potentially impact all of the cases in which the former judge, Douglas J. Darnbrough, and the assistant Bristol County District attorney identified in the anonymous notes, both participated in.

However, according to the Bristol County District Attorney's Office, the Massachusetts Trial Court had investigated the allegations and found no evidence of the relationship.

In a filing with the court on Monday, the DA's Office states, "When the Trial Court investigation concluded, the Trial Court informed the District Attorney's Office that their investigation found no evidence of a relationship between our employee and the judge."

The DA's Office stated that the ADA, as well as more than one other employee in the DA's Office, were being targeted by the same "harasser," with a "personal animus against them."

The DA's Office made the filing following a judge's order that it "disclose a summary of its investigation into the allegations that the prosecutor was having a sexual affair with the trial judge, and whether it is in possession of or learned of any evidence of an inappropriate personal relationship between the prosecutor and trial judge."

Inititially, appeals had been filed in New Bedford District Court after the two indecent A&B trials were concluded.

Attorney James P. McKenna has since filed motions for new trials in the two cases in New Bedford District Court based on the anonymous notes.

He was assigned through the Special Projects Unit of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, which provides counsel to indigent clients in post-conviction cases and includes the public defender division.

Defendants both serving 2 1/2 years

He filed the motions in November in the case of Gerson Pascual-Santana, who was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in the House of Correction on a charge of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 by Darnbrough on March 1, 2023; and Jonathan Rascao in December, who was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in the House of Correction on a charge of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 by Darnbrough on July 12, 2023.

McKenna has also filed a motion to consolidate the two cases, which has not been heard by the court yet.

McKenna also filed motions for a stay of sentence that would allow the defendants to be released on bail, as well as a motion for "post-conviction discovery."

The court granted a portion of the motion for post-conviction discovery in the Pascual-Santana case requiring evidence of any investigation, which led to Monday's filing by the DA. The hearing was held Jan. 5 by Cambridge District Court Judge David E. Frank.

McKenna stated that the first defense attorney had received one of the anonymous notes after Pascual-Santana was convicted, as did the director of the Committee for Public Counsel Services Criminal Trial Support Unit and the executive director of Bristol County Bar Advocates.

The notes included defendants' names and docket numbers, according to the Committee for Public Counsel Services.

Current defense also received a note

The defense has subsequently received another anonymous note purporting details of the alleged affair, and thanking them in part for their work to date, according to documents filed with the court.

McKenna stated in an affidavit to the court that following the distribution of the notes "on or about" September or October 2023, the judge was transferred from his position by the Mass. Trial Court as First Justice in New Bedford District Court to Plymouth County.

The judge subsequently resigned Nov. 2, 2023. The judge's attorney said he was resigning due to health issues, according to published reports, including in The Boston Globe. The attorney did not immediately return a request for comment.

McKenna argued, "In that context, such transfer, such replacement and such resignation constitute corroboration."

The DA's Office argued in an earlier filing with the court that the defense's argument was "speculation built on speculation."

Judge Frank granted the motion in part in a decision issued Jan. 17. Though, he stated, the "sufficiency of the defendant's showing in his request for discovery is minimal."

He stated, "The defendant's claim rests almost exclusively on unsigned and unsworn written statements from an author (or authors) whose name, address and identity are unknown to me and presumably to those individuals who received it."

But, he added, "Despite the minimal nature of the defendant's showing, the assertions raised in his motion involve an undeniably serious allegation that the trial judge and prosecutor were involved in an undisclosed sexual and personal relationship."

Widespread, preexisting harassment campaign

In addition to stating the Trial Court had found no evidence of a relationship between the judge and assistant district attorney, the DA's latest filing states it may be "inferred" that the Trial Court moved the judge after receiving one of the anonymous letters.

The DA's Office states it didn't receive any prior notice, and has not seen the letter sent to the Trial Court.

Trial Court investigators interviewed the ADA, and "consistent with information already known to the District Attorney's Office, our employee denied any relationship with the judge."

According to the DA's Office, they were aware of a "widespread and preexisting campaign of harassment. This included multiple anonymous letters against our employee and another District Attorney's Office employee. These letters had been sent to a number of people, including friends and family members of our employees."

According to the DA's Office, "These campaigns of harassment date back many years, and include an in-person confrontation in which the harasser told our employee that she 'wanted to ruin [our employee's] name before [she] even got one.' The information available to the District Attorney's Office strongly suggests that these employees are being targeted by the harasser because she maintains a personal animus against them, not based on professional interactions."

The DA's Office stated this new round of anonymous letters was a continuation of this harassment campaign against its employee.

The intent behind the letters "was to provoke the type of responses they elicited."

The DA's Office also "became aware that more than one New Bedford Trial Court employee had also been victims of similar anonymous harassment campaigns linked to the same suspected harasser," according to Monday's filing.

Notes 'perpetrate an injustice'

The DA's response concluded, "It is plain that the anonymous letters submitted by the defendant were sent as a part of this continuing campaign of harassment. No person who actually had evidence of the alleged misconduct would continue to rely on these anonymous letters. These anonymous letters are designed to perpetrate a vendetta against the people identified in them. Under the guise of promoting justice, the letters perpetrate an injustice."

The defense has until Feb. 12 to make any additional filings with the court on the motion for a new trial.

The DA's Office declined to comment on "anonymous notes" when contacted.

According to the state Board of Bar Overseers, the ADA named in the anonymous notes remains in active practice with the DA's Office.

Jennifer Donahue, Trial Court spokesperson, said the Trial Court declines to comment on a filing made in a pending matter.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Alleged affair between New Bedford judge, prosecutor said unfounded