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Show jl. C. PE1LETSER IS OUSTED BY HIGHER COURT Nationally Know Lodge Man Declared Guilty of Malfeasance in Office DOSTOX. Feb. 21. District Attorney Attor-ney Joseph C. Pelletier of BtStfork county was removed by the supreme court today. The court found him i guilty in several counts, under ohargres 1 of malfeasance, slfeasancc and non-I non-I feasance In office. I Tho court's rulSig was on charge : brought by State Attorney Genera? 'Allen that Pelletier had been a part; lo conspiracy to extort money under threats of prosecution and to suppress indictments 1 1 is relations with Dan- I lol II Coaklfv and other local attorneys at-torneys were characterised by the nt-tory nt-tory general as a "partnership 'n crime " United States Senator James A Iteed of Missouri, as counsel for Pelletier prevented no testimony In dejnstr ,1, .Jt ih mMmm nhnrvail him I with no wrong doing and that the! 'charges were merely the outirrowth of a fonpira-y tie:s,,n.il enemies. sTORV OF TR1 Mi Tho trial of DlStrlOl Attorney Joseph C. Pelletier of Suffolk county, before the full bench of the Massachusetts Supreme court, which began on December De-cember 27 last and ended January : l .at the aecond hearing ol the kind In tho state's history and Involved 32 ! apei kflcaUons of alleged "malfeasance, misfeasance and non-fensanco In of-I of-I flee" formulated by the grievance com- nilttee of the Boston Bar association and by Attorney Cfendral J. Weston I Allen. Io.vs than a year ago Nathan A Tufts was removed as district attorney attor-ney in Middlesex county In a similar pr N eeding. Evident e presented against Die district attorney however, in only 21 of the charees- In 10 of those he was accused f conspiracy to commit black-; mail. Improper action In handling ISSS In his office was alleged to 10; others and one specification attribute I I ed "misconduct" in two campaign ad-' i dresses In which the state Quoted Pel- 'tier, while speaking as a candidate' I for mayor, as having promised Im-1 niunitv from prosecution to anyone vho got into trouble through defending; i hrm from reports that ho intended to ! resign as district attorney. Pelletier 1 withdraw from the mavorallty campaign cam-paign before tho election PARTNERSHIPS OF GRIME Attorney Gonoral Allen alleiced thai I the acts of Pelletier as district attorney, Islut t- Nov 13. 19o. when he took of-' I flco down to the .late of tiling thej charges, as unfolded by witnesses, proved that the accused prosecutor' had conducted his office In an "unlaw-' fill ami reprehensible manner." None of th p barges. as originally filed specified speci-fied thit Pelletier had received money; In return for his alleged misconduct: but evidence to this effect was pre-j sent ed in five cases The attorney general offered this evidence In con-1 nectlon with a claim that Pelletier had' "participated In the profits of a part-nershio part-nershio of crime." The action of assistants of Pelletlerj (Continued on Pnge Two.) J. C. PELLETIER LOSKOFFICE Massachusetts Supreme Court Finds Lodge Man Guilty as Charged (Continued from Pao One) J In disposing of cases brought to the t-t.MHlon t-t.MHlon of the dlstrl t nttorney's olflce was th" basis of five of the chnrj;es Tho urate maintained that Pelletler should be removed because he had rr-talned rr-talned the assistants In office knowing their conduct to have been Improper Among tho charges In support of which the state Introduced testimony wore some to the effSOt that Pelletler had conspired with Daniel II Coakley of Boston, n lawyer and others to commit com-mit blackmail by threatening crlmln- al prosecution The bank records of , Coakley and Kelletlr offered by the 3tato were excluded as a whole hut were admitted In four rases involving alleged money transactions. NO DEFENSE EVIDENCE No evidence was offered for the defense de-fense United States Sonator James A. Reed of Missouri, chief counsel for i'elleticr, declared that thi whole proceeding pro-ceeding was based on a conspiracy :igalnt his client by political :ind por-sonal por-sonal enemies and also that the prosecution prose-cution had fallen flat because the state had failed to connect the district attorney at-torney with any wrong doln Senator Keed suld the defense elected to stand on the case as presented by tho state, arguing that there was nothing in It to which the district attorney need make defense by testimony. The attorney at-torney Kr-neral. in his closing argument urge.i Pelletler' a rallure to tako the stand as a point against him. By cross examination or state witnesses wit-nesses tin 1 in the arguments of his counsel. Telletler's defen.se was thi lie acted properly In handling all times, that many of thefse which ho declined to press were efforts to us his office as collection agency and that he never nev-er it any time cexcrpt in one c se when he was paid a legitimate fee as attorney at-torney in a law firm received any money mon-ey return. Two Boston attorneys Coaklev and William J. ircoran. the latter a former for-mer district attorney of Middlesex county -were named in tho original Information as co-consplrators with Pelletler and three more names were addd during the progress of the trial The latter wore Francis M Carroll, former tire commissioner Daniel J Oallaghgr, a former assistant to Pelletler Pelle-tler and also a former L'nlted States district attorney and Jack Patron, n detective. CONSPIRACY ( BARGED The state charged B general con-uplracy con-uplracy between Coakley and Pelletler and alleged that the others were called call-ed In from tirno to time pn specific schemes to blackmail In this connection connec-tion the state called attention to evidence evi-dence that Coakley, having a large leiiril practice, boasted of his Influence with the district attorney in and out of the presence of Pelletler, without re-sent ine-nt by the latter. Thus, he prosecution charged, it became generally gener-ally known that Coakley could obtain favors from the district attorney which were denleu others and mai c.ix. - were placed in Coaklcy's hand !m cn.r-. I of this reputed influence That condition con-dition the state charged, made It easy I for Pelletler and Coakley to carr or I their alleged blackmailing schemes. Gallagher was charged in one instance in-stance with having 'sold out his clients under a promise In the fulfillment of which it was alleged he afterwards was appointed an assistant district at- rorney In that case evidence was nd- duced to the effect that Coakley. rep-' rep-' resenting the divorced husband of Mr.' I Jennie S. Chase's daughter, offered to avert criminal prosecution, threatened threat-ened by Pelletler, if Mrs Chase would pay $50,000 She refused, although Gallagher as her counsel, tho state-' state-' nient charged, recommended the pa-I pa-I ment. Subsequently an Indictment wa.-i wa.-i returned in Suffolk QOtinty agnln&t ; Curtis W. Emery, second husband o: Mrs Chase's daughter, but ffmery w;ic i never prosecuted and Gallagher after I being named an assistant district al-I al-I torney nol prosecuted the case. CHARGi: s DEMF.I) In the single case in which the de-' j fense admitted that Pelletler had received re-ceived money, 'he state contended that he had used his office to friRhif-n Ben-I Ben-I J&mln Plecope Into palng a $21,000 ' fee to Daniel Mclsaac Counsel for j I'elletler admitted that the district at-: at-: torney received half of the 121,000 I but declared that It was a legltlm.it I lee received in private practice as a j partner of Ifolsaac. They denied the charge of the state that tho fee was ! extorted by threats that unless It wre I paid Pelletler would, have some one ' "watch" a hotel owned by Piscope. A motion attacking the right of the j court qfo remove a district attorney. ! on the greund that he legislature ainti had that authority was overrulled by the Court, which held also at the out-that out-that the proceeding was a civil one and nol oua.-l-crlmlnal as was con-I con-I tended by l elletier's counsel. ' The four members of the court who - n with chief Justice Pugg were Justices Jus-tices De Courcy, Carroll. Braley and Jepney. Attorney General Allen conducted con-ducted the prosecution with the assistance as-sistance of three mem hers of the Boston Bos-ton Par association, Robert G Dodge J. J McCarthy and Andrew Marshall Senntor Reed was assisted In the d, -tense by Louis C Boyle, of Washington, Washing-ton, former attorney general of ICan-sii ICan-sii , ami two of Pelletlor s assistant district attorneys. Pelletler was appointed district a:-torney a:-torney to fill an unexpired term in U0'j and has been re-elected at SV6I j election since . that time. He Is t graduate Of Boston college, which conferred con-ferred the honorary degree of Doctoi of Iaws upon him in 1913. and of the Boston University law school, un l was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1834 He Is nationally know . supreme advocate of rfie knights ol Columbus. |