Re: 91-A Regarding James McLaughlin
The memo from Gordon MacDonald that you provided me from April 2018 regarding the Laurie List is misrepresentative for the following reasons:
AG Gordon MacDonald’s office didn’t follow the protocol itself.
AG Gordon MacDonald publicly argued to keep the Laurie List private in August 2018 when he knew that James F McLaughlin had been placed on it by Keene in June 2018 and that the AG’s office had hired James F McLaughlin for the Grand Jury Criminal Investigation into St Paul’s School, as documented on page 350 of “Notes on a Silencing “ by Lacy Crawford. That investigation had not wrapped up when MacDonald argued to keep the Laurie List private. Page 350 of Lacy Crawford’s memoir specifically identifies James F McLaughlin and his investigation into the Diocese as a reason Gordon MacDonald knew him and hired him. MacDonald settled false claims for the Diocese (documented by WSJ journalist Dorothy Rabinowitz) while in private practice at Nixon Peabody, providing counsel to the Diocese.
AG MacDonald’s office deleted the files of 28 police officers with credibility issues before he became Supreme Court Chief Justice.
AG MacDonald’s office failed to follow its own promises to me in December 2020 that Geoffrey Ward would respond to the concerns I raised regarding Concord PD Julie Curtin. My concerns were forwarded to the AG’s office by John Scippa of Police Standards and Training after Concord PD ignored them – all after this 2018 memorandum was sent. All after AG Peter Heed’s 2004 memorandum was sent to all law enforcement agencies and county attorneys’ offices.
The pattern of the failures by the AG’s office to adhere to the very rules it sets for the Laurie List is consistent. It’s a pattern.
AG MacDonald used public money and resources to appeal Judge Charles Temple’s April 2019 ruling on the Laurie List. In September 2019, his office appealed before the Supreme Court. His office did not practice what it preached at all. Far from it.
The Keene Police Department released only two of James F. McLaughlin’s disciplinary notices. A third one was released this year. County Attorney Martha Hornick admitted in writing that she read exculpatory evidence (Laurie List) material in James F McLaughlin’s file in response to Robert LaMontagne’s case. But she didn’t release it to LaMontagne as she was bound to under Brady v Maryland and under AG McDonald’s April 2018 memo requiring prosecutors to inform defense of Laurie List officers involved in their cases. Keene Police failed in 2004 to follow AG Heed’s protocol.
The AG’s office has done precisely nothing to inform the defendants in James F McLaughlin’s cases about the files the state possesses documenting his violence, his dishonesty, and his fabrications dating to 1985 at least. Way before he was hired in the child sex crimes unit in 1988.
James F McLaughlin is no ordinary police officer. He is the police officer the state used to train others in his dirty tactics in cases involving minors. Minors. These are children the state has used as tools to make money for a corrupt racket. Literally a “Kids for Cash” scheme involving the AG’s office, police , private attorneys, and nonprofits.
When the AG’s office publishes memos such as the one you provided, and there is ample documented proof that the AG’s office doesn’t abide by the rules it sets, the public has no reason to trust anyone in the AG’s office.
It presents a constitutional crisis. What is the AG’s office going to do about this, and what is the judiciary under Gordon MacDonald’s tenure going to do?
What is US Attorney Erin Creegan going to do? She was Gordon MacDonald’s attorney when he became AG and when he was Supreme Court Chief Justice.
The AG, the Chief Justice, and the U.S. Attorney have all sworn an oath they haven’t kept and have no intention of keeping. They are all beholden to professional codes of conduct, which they have also failed to uphold because they have systematically ignored conflicts-of-interest laws.
An email to Nicholas ChongYen -Senior Assistant Attorney General
