* Alan Rogers is an Associate Professor of History at Boston College, where he teaches U.S. legal and constitutional history. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of articles published in the American Journal of Legal History, Massachusetts Legal History, and the Suffolk University Law Review, among others. He would like to thank Professor Phyllis Goldfarb for inviting him to make a presentation at the Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation conference, held at Boston College in 2001. This Article is part of a work in progress on the history of capital punishment in Massachusetts from 1630 to the present. Among other sources, the author used the Sara Ehrmann collection archived at Northeastern University’s Snell Library. Newspaper accounts cited in this article may be found throughout the collection and, therefore, do not always conform to A Uniform System of Citation. The quotation in the title is from a postcard sent to MCADP members following the passage of the mercy law on April 3, 1951. MCAPD leaflet, Box 36, Folder 11, Ehrmann Papers, infra note 9.
1 Boston Globe, May 10, 1947; Boston Herald, May 10, 1947. For a brief sketch of Governor Bradford, a descendant of William Bradford, second governor of the Plymouth colony over three centuries earlier, see Alec Barbrook, God Save the Commonwealth: An Electoral History of Massachusetts 55–56, 86 (1973). Bradford served as Lieutenant Governor under Governor Maurice Tobin, 1944–1946. Boston Herald, May 10, 1947.
2 William J. Bowers et al., Legal Homicide, Death as Punishment in America 1864–1982, at 26 (1984).
3 See id. at 46; William F. Bugden, Mass. Dept. of Corr., An Analysis of Convictions of Murder in the First Degree in Massachusetts, from January 1, 1900 to December 31, 1962, at 2–3 (1963).
4 See Robert H. Haines, Against Capital Punishment: The Anti-Death Penalty Movement in America 1972–1994, at 12, 21, 40 (1996).
5 See Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 240 (1972); Bowers, supra note 2, at 46; Haines, supra note 4, at 12, 21, 40. An enormous amount has been written about the death penalty in America, and the following brief list is suggestive rather than exhaustive. See generally Charles L. Black, Jr., Capital Punishment: The Inevitability of Caprice and Mistake (1974); Bowers, supra note 2; Haines, supra note 4; Welsh S. White, The Death Penalty in the Nineties (1991); The Death Penalty in America (Hugo Adam Bedau ed., 3d ed. 1982).
6 Furman, 408 U.S. at 329–30; Neil Vidmar & Phoebe Ellsworth, Public Opinion and the Death Penalty, 26 STAN. L. REV. 245, 1245 (1974). Following the per curiam statement in Furman, there were nine separate opinions, comprising 243 pages, the longest in Court history. The four dissenters were more uniform in their critiques than the majority. All of the dissenters expressed the view that the Court was treading on legislative turf and that Americans had not regulated the death penalty. Chief Justice Burger’s opinion raised the possibility that states might rewrite their death statutes to meet the Court’s objectives.
7 See 428 U.S. 153, 153–54 (1976). In Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242 (1976) and Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262 (1976), a plurality of the Court rejected the abolitionists’ argument that capital punishment per se was unconstitutional and mandated bifurcated proceedings and guided discretion standards for sentences and appellate review. However, the Court invalidated North Carolina’s death penalty statute which imposed a mandatory death sentence for certain crimes in a companion case to Gregg, Woodson v. North Carolina. See 428 U.S. 280, 301 (1976). The Court found that “North Carolina’s mandatory death penalty statute for first-degree murder departs markedly from contemporary standards respecting the imposition of the punishment of death and thus cannot be applied consistently with the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments’ requirement that the State’s power to punish ‘be exercised within the limits of civilized standards.’” Id. Further, in the final Gregg companion case, Roberts v. Louisiana, the Court invalidated Louisiana’s statute despite the fact that the state’s mandatory death sentence provision applied to a narrower range of defendants than the statute in Woodson. 428 U.S. 325, 336 (1976).
8 See Gregg, 428 U.S. at 153–54 (1976); Furman, 408 U.S. at 307–08 (Stewart, J., concurring); Commonwealth v. O’Neal, 327 N.E.2d 662, 668 (Mass. 1975) (O’Neal I). In Commonwealth v. LeBlanc, the SJC declared that all pre-Furman death sentences must be vacated. 299 N.E.2d 719, 726–27 (Mass. 1973). For Sargent’s veto message, see Boston Globe, Dec. 10, 1973.
9 See generally Commonwealth v. Colon-Cruz, 470 N.E.2d 116 (Mass. 1984); O’Neal I, 327 N.E.2d 662; Commonwealth v. Gallo, 175 N.E. 718 (Mass. 1931); Commonwealth v. Cero, 162 N.E. 349 (Mass. 1928). The Commonwealth is currently one of a dozen states (plus the District of Columbia) without capital punishment. The Northeastern University Library Archives are home to Sara R. Ehrmann’s manuscript collection that includes the activities of the MCADP as well as materials covering the death penalty movement in Massachusetts. Throughout this article, citation to materials housed in the Northeastern Archives in Boston, Massachusetts will conform to the citation format suggested by the archives. Papers, 1845–1993, Sara R. Ehrmann (M39) University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts [hereinafter Ehrmann Papers]. Alternative sentencing, or the mercy law, allowed a jury to make a binding recommendation to a court that a defendant found guilty of first-degree murder be sentenced to life imprisonment rather than to death. For the mercy law, see 1951 Mass. Acts 203 (currently codified at Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, � 2 (2000)). For information regarding different states’ treatment of the death penalty, see The Death Penalty in American Current Controversies 9 (Hugo Adam Bedau ed., 1997).
10 The Sacco-Vanzetti case began in 1921 as a simple trial for murder-robbery. It ended six years later as an international cause in which many people believed that Massachusetts had executed two innocent men because they held radical views. See generally Francis Russell, Tragedy in Dedham (1962).
11 For the relationship between the ALACP and the MCADP, see Letter from Vivian Pierce to Glendower Evans, Sept. 29, 1927, Box 17, Folder 18, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. The ALACP began in 1925 and included among its founders Clarence Darrow. Vivian Pierce served as ALACP’s Executive Secretary until the group’s collapse and absorption by the MCADP in 1949. The mercy bill was a staple of the MCADP’s campaign against capital punishment and was introduced each year from 1928 to 1951. When the ALACP collapsed, its papers were transferred to the MCADP and are now included in the Ehrmann Papers. Boxes 32–33, All Folders, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
12 William Ewing was the first executive director of MCADP. See generally Michael Sussman, The Movement Against Capital Punishment in Massachusetts: Origins and Lesson, Box 37, Folders 27–28, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. Details about Sara Ehrmann’s early life are drawn largely from drafts of an unpublished biography by Michael Sussman. See generally id. Jacobstein served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1923–1929. This Article focuses only on Ehrmann’s activity with MCADP, but she also served in dozens of volunteer groups including the League of Women Voters, Women’s City Club, United Prison Association, Norfolk Lifer’s Group, and the American Jewish Committee. See generally Boxes 32–37, All Folders, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
13 See generally William L. O’Neill, Everyone Was Brave: A History of Feminism in America 142–43 (1969); Sussman, supra note 12.
14 See generally Herbert B. Ehrmann et al., The Criminal Courts (1922), reprinted in Cleveland Foundation, Criminal Justice in Cleveland; Reports of the Cleveland Foundation Survey of the Administration of Criminal Justice in Cleveland, Ohio (Roscoe Pound & Felix Frankfurter eds., 1968); Sussman, supra note 12.
15 See generally Herbert B. Ehrmann, The Case That Will Not Die: Commonwealth v. Sacco and Vanzetti (1969). For the “subversive influence [of college education] upon the traditional conception of women and the family,” see Carl N. Degler, At Odds: Women and the Family in America from the Revolution to the Present 314 (1980).
16 See generally Sussman, supra note 12.
17 Haines, supra note 4, at 12.
18 See Bowers, supra note 2, at 449.
19 See Dist. Attorney for Suffolk Dist. v. Watson, 411 N.E.2d 1274, 1282 (Mass. 1980).
20 For Ehrmann’s salary, see Boston Globe, Apr. 26, 1963 and Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Raymond S. Rubinow, Dec. 22, 1955, Box 34, Folder 34, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. In fact, Ehrmann never received a salary but relied upon donations to keep the organization afloat. Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Honorable William Ramsdell, Mar. 22, 1945, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. For the highly publicized murder cases, see Attorney for the Damned: Clarence Darrow in the Courtroom 16–88 (Arthur Weinberg ed., 1989). See generally Ehrmann, supra note 15; Jim Fisher, The Lindbergh Case (1987); Francis Russell, Tragedy in Dedham (2d ed., 1971). In the wake of the Lindbergh kidnapping, Sara Ehrmann opposed a Massachusetts bill to make kidnapping a capital crime. See Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Editor, Worcester Post, Mar. 21, 1932; Saturday Evening Post, Oct. 24, 1925; Saturday Evening Post, Oct. 10, 1925; Saturday Evening Post, Sept. 26, 1925; Saturday Evening Post, Sept. 12, 1925; Saturday Evening Post, Aug. 29, 1925; Saturday Evening Post, Aug. 15, 1925; Saturday Evening Post, Aug. 1, 1925. For the best source for homicide data, see generally H.C. Brearley, Homicide in the United States (1932). With Sara Ehrmann’s direct influence, Governor Joseph B. Ely (1930–1934) introduced a capital punishment study bill in 1931 and a bill to re-define first degree murder to except homicide motivated primarily by emotion in 1934. At the same time, Ely signed death warrants ordering the execution of seven convicted murderers. See Bowers, supra note 2, at 449.
21 Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Glendower Evans, Feb. 12, 1931, Box 17, Folder 18, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9; Letter from Glendower Evans to Vivian Pierce, Sept. 29, 1927, Box 17, Folder 18, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. Sara Ehrmann advocated for a study of capital punishment, but opposed a popular referendum. Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Editor Klaus, Boston Transcript, Feb. 16, 1932, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. For information on recommendations to the Judicial Council, see Letter from Francis Russell to Governor Saltonstall, Dec. 21, 1938, Box 19, Folder 24, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. The legislature formed the Judicial Council in 1924. It was composed of representatives, one each nominated by the Chief Justice of the SJC, the Chief Justice of the Superior Court, one judge of the land court, one judge of a probate court, one judge of a district court, and not more than four members of the bar appointed by the governor. The appointments were not to exceed four years. Third Report of the Judicial Council, reprinted in 13 Mass. L. Q. 7, 37–43 (1927).
22 For information on Calvert’s visit to Boston, see Boston Herald, Sept. 29, 1929 and Sussman, supra note 12. Ehrmann’s press release was sent to Boston newspapers on January 8, 1930, and included the leaflet sent to legislators of which Dr. Stearns’ statement was a part. Leaflet, Box 36, Folder 11, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. For reports on Ehrmann’s desire to drive out the “old people,” see Letter from Miriam Van Waters to Vivian Pierce, May 10, 1939, Box 19, Folder 71, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
23 For Archer’s argument, see National Civic Federation, Jan. 15, 1931, Box 36, Folder 35, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
24 Among other reasons for abolishing capital punishment listed in MCADP leaflets, was the possibility of an “irrevocable miscarriage of justice.” MCADP Leaflets, 1931, 1934, 1936, Box 36, Folder 11, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. Gangi Cero’s case was the accompanying example. Id. Zechariah Chafee also testified, arguing that juries had difficulty determining the dividing line between the several degrees of murder. Id.
25 Commonwealth v. Cero, 162 N.E. 349, 350, 351 (Mass. 1928); Boston Globe, Nov. 16, 1927.
26 Statutory questions asked jurors during voir dire include the following: Was the juror related to the prisoner or to the deceased? Did the potential juror have any interest in the case? Was he conscious of any bias about the case? Did the potential juror hold an opinion that would preclude him from finding the defendant guilty of an offense punishable by death if the evidence satisfied him beyond a reasonable doubt? Scharton established that police officers who questioned potential Suffolk County jurors were following orders issued by Boston Police Commissioner Herbert Wilson, but Scharton was not able to convince Judge Cox that he should be permitted to question jurors about the police visit. Motion for New Trial at 10–18, 20–34, 115–16, Commonwealth v. Cero, 162 N.E. 349 (Mass. 1927) (on file at Massachusetts SJC Archives).
27 Cero, 162 N.E. at 351.
28 Organized by the American Federation of Labor in the wake of World War I, more than 900 Boston policemen struck for higher wages and improved working conditions on September 9, 1919. Governor Calvin Coolidge called out the National Guard to restore order. Not a single one of the striking policemen was ever rehired by the City of Boston. Thomas H. O’Connor, The Boston Irish 191–93 (1995).
29 Cero, 162 N.E. at 353, 354.
30 Id. at 351, 353–54; 1887 Mass. Acts 149l; Commonwealth v. Poisson, 32 N.E. 906, 907 (Mass. 1893).
31 Boston Herald, Jan. 10, 1929.
32 Cero, 162 N.E. at 354. A MCADP member told Ehrmann that Cero was offered a five-year sentence if he would plead guilty to manslaughter, but he refused. Letter from Glendower Evans to Sara Ehrmann, Jan. 30, 1931, Box 17, Folder 18, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
33 N.Y. Times, Oct. 11, 1931.
34 Boston Herald, Jan. 10, 1929; Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Dec. 25, 1966.
35 Boston Herald, Mar. 1, 1929.
36 See generally Sussman, supra note 12.
37 See generally id.
38 Commonwealth v. Gallo, 175 N.E. 718, 719 (Mass. 1931); N.Y. Times, Oct. 11, 1931. See generally Sussman, supra note 12.
39 Gallo, 175 N.E. at 721, 722; Boston Herald, Oct. 4, 1931.
40 Gallo, 175 N.E. at 721.
41 Id.
42 Id.
43 Id.
44 Id.
45 Gallo, 175 N.E. at 721. Rugg gave two examples of the SJC’s approval of the legislature’s 1876 reform of criminal indictments: Commonwealth v. Snow, 169 N.E. 542 (Mass. 1930) and Commonwealth v. Gedzium, 156 N.E. 890 (Mass. 1927).
46 Gallo, 175 N.E. at 721, 724.
47 Justice Stone’s famous footnote in United States v. Carolene Products Co. proposed that the Court should impose higher standards of review in areas of civil liberties and civil rights. See 304 U.S. 144, 152 n.4 (1938). For a collection of Rugg’s public speeches, see generally Arthur Prentice Rugg, A Memorial (1939).
48 For Governor Ely’s commutation of Gallo’s death sentence, see Boston Globe, Oct. 13, 1931. For Ehrmann’s remarks, see generally Sussman, supra note 12.
49 Hazel Erskine, The Polls: Capital Punishment, 34 Pub. Opinion Q. 291 (1970).
50 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were tried in 1951 for conspiracy to commit wartime espionage, namely passing secret information about the United States’ atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Found guilty, Julius and Ethel were executed at sundown on June 19, 1953. See Robert Meeropol & Michael Meeropol, We Are Your Sons, at xxx, xxxii (1986).
51 For a good summary of Massachusetts politics during the 1930s and 1940s, see Barbrook, supra note 1, at 35–78. For an outline of Chafee’s work for MCADP, see Letter from Zechariah Chafee to Sara Ehrmann, Mar. 1, 1933, Box 16, Folder 69, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9 and Letter from Raynor Gardiner to Sara Ehrmann, Apr. 11, 1941, Box 4, Folder 18, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. For women’s mobilization during World War II, see Degler, supra note 15, at 418–35. Long-time MCADP member and professor Sheldon Glueck asked Ehrmann if she found it “embarrassing” to agitate for abolition “when the fate of the Nazi butchers will soon be at stake?” Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Sheldom Glueck, Feb. 2, 1945, Box 17, Folder 53, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. For information on the Rosenbergs, see Letter from Vivian Pierce to Sara Ehrmann, Mar. 6, 1953, Box 18, Folder 96 and Sara Ehrmann to Vivian Pierce, Mar. 16, 1953, Box 18, Folder 96, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
52 Ehrmann sometimes wrote speeches for Governor Ely. See, e.g., Governor Joseph Ely, Address of His Excellency Joseph B. Ely to the Two Branches of the Legislature of Massachusetts (Jan. 5, 1933), Box 17, Folder 16, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9; Governor Joseph Ely, Massachusetts Should Abolish Capital Punishment (Dec. 1931), Box 17, Folder 16, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. For information on Molway and Berrett’s ordeal, see Boston Globe, Feb. 27, 1934.
53 Christian Sci. Monitor, Mar. 1, 1934. For Erhmann’s thank you to Berrett for testifying before the Judiciary Committee, see Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Louis Berrett, Mar. 27, 1941, Box 23, Folder 57, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
54 Letter from Henry F. Brennan, Secretary of James Michael Curley, to Executive Secretary, MCADP, Feb. 9, 1928, Box 16, Folder 88; Letter from James Michael Curley to Sara Ehrmann, Feb. 4, 1929, Box 16, Folder 88; Letter from Curley to Ehrmann, Apr. 16, 1929, Box 16, Folder 88; Letter from Curley to Ehrmann, May 14, 1929, Box 16, Folder 88; Letter from Curley to Ehrmann, Sept. 28, 1929, Box 16, Folder 88; Letter from Ehrmann to Curley, Dec. 17, 1929, Box 16, Folder 88; Letter from Curley to Ehrmann, May 26, 1930, Box 16, Folder 88, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. Just one month into Curley’s term, the State executed Alexander Kaminski on February 19, 1935 and then executed Needham bank robbers Murton Millen, Irving Millen, and Abraham Faber on June 7, 1935. Bowers, supra note 2, at 449.
55 Letter from Christian Herter to Sara Ehrmann, May 10, 1932, Box 17, Folder 77; Letter from Ehrmann to Herter, May 11, 1932, Box 17, Folder 77; Letter from Herter to Ehrmann, Dec. 13, 1938, Box 17, Folder 77; Letter from Ehrmann to Herter, Nov. 19, 1940, Box 17, Folder 77, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
56 See Governor Joseph Ely, Massachusetts Should Abolish Capital Punishment, Adress Before the Massachusetts Legislature (Dec. 1931), Box 17, Folder 16, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
57 Id. The Herald wrote twice about Ely’s pardon policy. Boston Herald, Jan. 12, 1934; Boston Herald, Oct. 26, 1932. For a cautious endorsement of Ely’s bill to distinguish passionate killers from “cold-blooded, clear-headed assassins,” see Boston Globe, July 3, 1931.
58 Letter from Zechariah Chafee to Sara Ehrmann, Mar. 1, 1933, Box 16, Folder 69, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9; Letter from Francis Russell & Zechariah Chafee to Sara Ehrmann, Dec. 22, 1939, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9; Notes on 1935 Legislative Session, Sara Ehrmann, Box 5, Folder 10, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. For the trial of Green and St. Sauveur, see Boston Herald, Oct. 5, 1938. After the two men were sentenced, Green cynically congratulated the prosecutor for his “personal victory,” and St. Sauveur denounced Green as “too rotten and yellow to square me.” Boston Herald, Oct. 5, 1938. For Saltonstall’s statement rejecting clemency, see Boston Globe, Aug. 1, 1939. For details about the execution, see Boston Globe, Aug. 2, 1939. State Senator Charles Lane called use of the electric chair “barbaric and inhumane” and filed a bill substituting a gas chamber for the electric chair. Boston Globe, Aug. 3, 1939.
59 Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Leverett Saltonstall, Feb. 19, 1941, Box 19, Folder 24, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
60 Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Leverett Saltonstall, May 28, 1943, Box 19, Folder 24, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
61 A governor triggers a pocket veto by failing to sign a bill before the legislative session ends.
62 Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Leverett Saltonstall, Feb. 19, 1941, Box 19, Folder 24, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9; Letter from Sara Ehrmann to “Dear Governor” Saltonstall, May 28, 1943, Box 19, Folder 24, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9; Letter from Charles Sprague to Sara Ehrmann, Mar. 9, 1943, Box 19, Folder 47, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9 (stating that he had written in support of mercy bill). Sprague later agreed to become treasurer of MCADP, a position he held until 1951. Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Leverett Saltonstall, May 28, 1943, Box 19, Folder 24, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9; Letter from Alford Rudnick to Edward Rowe, May 12, 1943, Box 19, Folder 19, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9; Letter from Charles Sprague to Sara Ehrmann, Nov. 2, 1951, Box 19, Folder 47, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. For letters about the Governor’s pocket veto, see Letter from Herbert Ehrmann to Leverett Saltonstall, Dec. 28, 1944, Box 19, Folder 24, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. For a source attributing the defeat to the murder of a Newburyport woman, see Miriam Van Waters, The Impact of the War on Our Youth, Address (Apr. 30, 1943), Box 19, Folder 70, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
63 Letter from Robert Bradford to Sara Ehrmann, Feb. 11, 1941, Box 16, Folder 46, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
64 Letter from Robert Bradford to Sara Ehrmann, Apr. 2, 1940, Box 16, Folder 46, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9; Letter from Sara Ehrmann to MCADP Board, May 16, 1940; Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Robert Bradford, Feb. 6, 1941, Box 16, Folder 46; Letter from Bradford to Ehrmann, Feb. 11, 1941, Box 16, Folder 46, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. Avery told Ehrmann he believed public criticism of Bradford’s prosecution of young Giacomazzo caused Bradford to actively oppose any modification of capital punishment from that time forward. Letter from Herbert Avery to Sara Ehrmann, Apr. 26, 1948, Box 16, Folder 46, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
65 Boston Globe, Aug. 10, 1945. For details about Williams’ slaying surfacing during the trial of Gertson and Bellino, see Boston Globe, June 15, 1946; Boston Globe, June 14, 1946; Boston Globe, June 13, 1946; Boston Globe, June 12, 1946.
66 Boston Globe, June 15, 1946.
67 Commonwealth v. Bellino, 71 N.E.2d 411, 415, 416 (Mass. 1947). For the fourteen-person jury statute, still in existence today, see Mass. Gen Laws ch. 234, � 26B (2000).
68 Bellino v. Massachusetts, 330 U.S. 832 (1946); Boston Globe, May 9, 1947. Relatives of Gertson and Bellino visited with Governor Bradford on May 8, 1947, but the Governor refused to intervene. Boston Herald, May 8, 1947.
69 Andres v. United States, 333 U.S. 740, 747 n.11 (1948).
70 Id. The Court pointed out that in only four states “is death the inevitable penalty for murder in the first degree: Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Vermont.” Id. at 757. For Bradford’s veto message, see Boston Globe, Apr. 26, 1948.
71 New Bedford Standard Times, Apr. 26, 1948; Letter from Sara Ehrmann to James Donnoruma, Apr. 28, 1948, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. For Griswold’s public comment, see Boston Evening Am., Apr. 28, 1948; Boston Herald, Apr. 28, 1948; Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Alexander Forbes, May 22, 1948, Box 5, Folder 14; Forbes to Ehrmann, May 1, 1948, Box 5, Folder14, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
72 See Boston Herald, Mar. 23, 1949. See generally Barbrook, supra note 1, at 92. The Northeastern University Library collection of the Sara Ehrmann Papers includes materials covering her work with the League of Women Voters and other volunteer activities. See generally Ehrmann Activities, Box 39, All Folders, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
73 Edwin J. Lukas, Bridewell Revisited, The Nation, Feb. 12, 1949, at 179–81.
74 See id. For details of Van Waters’ case, see Estelle B. Freedman, Maternal Justice: Miriam Van Waters and the Female Reform Tradition 274–312 (1996). Van Waters served as President of the ALACP from 1938 to 1949 and as such she worked more closely with Vivian Pierce, the long-time Executive Secretary of ALACP, than with Sara Ehrmann. Letter from Miriam Van Waters to Vivian Pierce, Nov. 12, 1938, Box 19, Folder 71, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
75 See Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Apr. 13, 1949. In a September 23, 1949, column, Mullins worried that recent books about Sacco-Vanzetti would undermine young people’s belief in the law. Mullin’s reference was to Charles McGarty’s murder and rape of his sister’s eight-year-old daughter. See Commonwealth v. McGarty, 82 N.E.2d 603, 604 (Mass. 1948). The scandal also caused Van Waters to resign as president of the struggling ALACP; the MCADP assimilated the organization and Ehrmann became director. See Boston Herald, Mar. 30, 1949.
76 Dever stated he would not commute a death sentence for someone convicted of a murder for profit. Daily Lynn Item, July 26, 1951. Dever commuted to life imprisonment the death sentences of eight men. See generally Commonwealth v. Lee, 88 N.E.2d 713 (Mass. 1949); Commonwealth v. Pike, 86 N.E.2d 519 (Mass. 1949); Commonwealth v. White, 81 N.E.2d 823 (Mass. 1948) (the companion case is Commonwealth v. William White); Commonwealth v. Galvin, 80 N.E.2d 825 (Mass. 1948); Boston Herald, June 30, 1949; Letter from Wilbur Hollingsworth to Sara Ehrmann, Nov. 28, 1949, Box 26, Folder 13, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9; Letter from R.E. Lee to Sara Ehrmann, Dec. 5, 1949, Box 26, Folder 11, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. Furthermore, Dever commuted the death sentence of Charles McGarty convicted of murdering an eight-year-old girl. See generally Commonwealth v. McGarty, 82 N.E.2d 603 (Mass. 1948). And, Dever commuted the death sentence of Vincent Dellechiaie, convicted of murdering a seven-year-old girl. See generally Commonwealth v. Dellechiaie, 84 N.E.2d 7 (Mass. 1949). Lastly, the Governor commuted McNeil’s sentence. Commonwealth v. McNeil, 104 N.E.2d 153, 155 (Mass. 1952). The Southbridge News was not impressed with the mitigating evidence introduced at McNeil’s commutation hearing that as a boy he had been beaten by his father and mistreated by juvenile authorities. “Had the jurors known all this, we assume they would have sent the judge to jail and killer to the bench.” Southbridge News, Apr. 11, 1952.
77 Boston Herald, Apr. 13, 1952; Boston Herald, June 30, 1949; Boston Traveler, Apr. 14, 1958; Southbridge News, Apr. 11, 1952.
78 1951 Mass. Acts 203.
79 1951 Mass. Acts 203; Boston Globe, Apr. 4, 1951; MCADP postcard proclaiming victory, Apr. 5, 1951, Box 5, Folder 17, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9; Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Charles Sprague, June 19, 1951, Box 19, Folder 47; Sprague to Ehrmann, Nov. 2, 1951, Box 19, Folder 47, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. The Senate added mandatory death penalty for rape-murder language; the Senate passed the bill by one vote. H.R. No. 2148 (1951), reprinted in The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Journal of the Senate of 1951, at 611 (1951).
80 Haines, supra note 4, at 12.
81 Vidmar & Ellsworth, supra note 6, at 1249.
82 See Haines, supra note 4, at 12. See generally Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972); Commonwealth v. Colon-Cruz, 470 N.E.2d 116 (Mass. 1984); Commonwealth v. O’Neal, 327 N.E.2d 662, 668 (Mass. 1975) (O’Neal I). Although Ehrmann’s work was important after 1951, the mercy law’s success shifted the movement’s focus to the governor’s office. See Vidmar & Ellsworth, supra note 6, at 1249. Herter served as Massachusetts governor from 1953 to 1956 when he accepted an appointment as United States Under-Secretary of State. Massachusetts Republicans held the House and Senate under Herter but not again thereafter. Barbrook, supra note 1, at 95–100. For Fingold’s comment, see N.Y. TIMES, Sept. 1, 1958. The data on the number of capital jury recommendations of life imprisonment is compiled from Massachusetts Reports.
83 Commonwealth v. Chapin, 132 N.E.2d 404, 406–07 (Mass. 1956).
84 Id.; Boston Globe, Apr. 28, 1954; Boston Globe, Apr. 27, 1954.
85 Chapin, 132 N.E.2d at 410, 415.
86 Boston Globe, June 1, 1956; Boston Herald, Apr. 26, 1956; Boston Herald, Dec. 16, 1955; Boston Traveler, Nov. 29, 1956; Letter from Dr. Jack Ewalt to Endicott Peabody, June 7, 1956, Box 17, Folder 20, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
87 Beverly Times, Apr. 7, 1953; Boston Indep. Democrat, Feb. 11, 1955; New Bedford Standard Times, Apr. 23, 1955.
88 Commonwealth v. Chapin, 132 N.E.2d 404 (Mass. 1956), cert. denied, 352 U.S. 857 (1956); Boston Globe, Nov. 29, 1956; New Bedford Standard Times, Apr. 23, 1955. Many years later, Ehrmann recalled the dramatic events of the Chapin case in the Worcester Telegram. Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Dec. 25, 1966. Councilor Charles Gabriel expressed his dislike with the Chapin decision. Rockland Standard, Nov. 28, 1957. Chapin’s Springfield neighbors were divided over the clemency decision. Boston Globe, Nov. 30, 1956.
89 Boston Herald, Nov. 30, 1956. The Patriot-Ledger argued that the Council’s commutation of Chapin’s death sentence to life imprisonment “makes it apparent that the use of capital punishment in Massachusetts has been suspended.” Patriot-Ledger, Dec. 1, 1956.
90 Boston Globe, July 6, 1955; Letter from Tom Ehrlich, Chief of Staff to Governor Furcolo, to Sara Ehrmann, July 25, 1956, Box 17, Folder 43, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. See generally Report and Recommendations of the Special Commission Established for the Purpose of Investigating and Studying the Abolition of the Death Penalty in Capital Cases H.R. No. 2575 (1959) [hereinafter Report on Abolition]. Of the Commission’s fifteen members, the President of the Senate appointed three members, the Speaker of the House appointed five members, and the Governor appointed seven members. Id. at title page. Massachusetts Police Chiefs Association members were angry that the Governor did not appoint one of its members. Christian Sci. Monitor, Nov. 21, 1957.
91 See generally Report on Abolition, supra note 90.
92 Id. at 15.
93 Id. According to the Report, the average per capita murder rate for the United States in 1957 was 5.1 per 100,000 people. The rate of murder in the six highest southern states averaged five to twelve times higher than the New England states. Id.
94 Id. at 18.
95 Id. at 15–16, 18, 21.
96Report on Abolition, supra note 90, at 25–27.
97 Id. at 29–30.
98 Id. at 34–35. Sara Ehrmann and Rabbi Gittelsohn had corresponded at least since Nov. 9, 1955, when Gittelsohn told Ehrmann that he was “deeply interested in this [abolition] work.” Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Rabbi Gittelsohn, Nov. 9, 1955, Box 17, Folder 51, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. The Reverend Greeley also had a relationship with Ehrmann. See Letter from Dana McLean Greeley to Sara Ehrmann, July 17, 1959, Box 17, Folder 60, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
99 Report on Abolition, supra note 90, at 44.
100 Id. at 44–46.
101 Report on Abolition, supra note 90, at 76 (citing the minority view of Senator Mary L. Fonseca of Fall River).
102 Report on Abolition, supra note 90, at 72 (citing the minority report).
103 Id. at 65, 72, 74.
104 THE Pilot, Jan. 21, 1956.
105 Ave Maria, May 4, 1957. Drinan’s testimony before the Commission was summarized in a leaflet and reported in many newspapers, including the Springfield Union. Springfield Union, Dec. 10, 1957. Sheedy made his statement February 19, 1964; it was reprinted and circulated by MCADP and the ALACP, which Ehrmann also guided. See Capital Punishment Pamphlet, Box 37, Folder 5, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. For excerpts from Sheedy’s statement, see Boston Globe, Feb. 20, 1964. Richard Cardinal Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, said that his “personal reaction” was “to regret that capital punishment is a law on the books of the Commonwealth.” Richard Cardinal Cushing, The Mentor, A Penal Publication, Mar. 1967, at 1–2.
106 See generally Commonwealth v. Devlin, 141 N.E.2d 269 (Mass. 1957); Commonwealth v. Bonomi, 140 N.E.2d 140 (Mass. 1957). For Fingold’s remarks, see Boston Globe, Aug. 28, 1958. Commissioner of Corrections Arthur Lyman believed that Devlin, Arsenault, and LeBanc should be executed; publicly, however, he favored commuting Bonomi’s death sentence. Boston Herald, June 27, 1957; Christian Sci. Monitor, Aug. 27, 1957.
107 See generally Report on Abolition, supra note 90. According to Ehrmann’s count, seventy-two of the ninety-two people who sought election to the Massachusetts House favored abolition. Boston Globe, Apr. 21, 1959; Boston Herald, Mar. 20, 1959; Christian Sci. Monitor, Nov. 13, 1958.
108 Barbrook, supra note 1, at 132–34. Volpe won a two-year term in 1960, lost to Peabody in 1962, and then reclaimed the statehouse in 1964 and again, for a four year term, in 1966. See id. at 132, 138, 142, 152–53. Volpe served only two years of his last term before joining the Nixon administration as Secretary of Transportation; from 1969–1970, Lieutenant Governor Francis Sargent served as acting governor. Id. at 155. The Massachusetts murder rate more than doubled from 1950 to 1970. J. Edgar Hoover, Crime in the United States 1970, at 76 (1971); J. Edgar Hoover, Uniform Crime Report 1950, at 89 (1951).
109 Boston Herald Traveler, Sept. 3, 1960. For Peabody’s comment about the Boston Strangler, see Boston Globe, Jan. 21, 1963. For Volpe’s announcement that he would enforce the death penalty, see Boston Globe, June 6, 1965; Boston Rec.-Am., Feb. 4, 1965. Following G. Joseph Tauro’s appointment to the Superior Court in 1961, his son, Joseph L. Tauro, assumed the position of legal counsel to Governor Volpe. For the Volpe-Tauro delaying strategy, see Boston Globe, Feb. 20, 1969. For information on the number of people on death row in 1966, see Boston Globe, Dec. 8, 1966.
110 Barbrook, supra note 1, at 135–38.
111 Cornelius Dalton et al., Leading the Way: A History of the Massachusetts General Court, 1629–1980, at 339–41 (1984); Boston Globe, Jan. 31, 1963; Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Lester Hyman, Aide to Governor Peabody, Jan. 21, 1963, Box 18, Folder 88; Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Endicott Peabody, Jan. 21, 1963, Box 18, Folder 88; Letter from James Lawton, Peabody Legislative Secretary, to Sara Ehrmann, Jan. 25, 1963, Box 18, Folder 88, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. State Senator Philip Graham argued that the Governor’s promise to commute all death sentences violated his oath of office because he was prejudging cases before the defendants committed the crimes. Boston Herald, Feb. 1, 1963. The Berkshire Eagle, downplayed “easterners” alarm at the Governor’s “Strangler statement,” noting that “westerners admire his courage, his image of ‘damn the torpedoes’ honesty.” Berkshire Eagle, Mar. 1, 1963. From 1962 to 1964, thirteen single women in greater Boston were murdered by an assailant the press labeled the “Boston Strangler.” See generally Gerald Frank, The Boston Strangler (1966). Albert de Salvo confessed to the murders and was sentenced to life imprisonment on a series of earlier charges. See generally id. Another inmate stabbed him to death in 1973. See generally id.
112 Commonwealth v. Kerrigan, 188 N.E.2d 484, 484–85 (Mass. 1963); Boston Globe, Sept. 14, 1961.
113 Boston Globe, Sept. 23, 1961.
114 Boston Rec.-Am., Feb. 4, 1963. For Lawton’s statement to Judiciary Committee, see James Lawton Statement, March 21, 1963, Box 18, Folder 88, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
115 For the Senate’s bill, see Lowell Sun, Apr. 18, 1963. For initial House debate, see Springfield Union, Apr. 26, 1963. For the Parker House meeting, see Boston Herald, May 4, 1963. The Boston Advertiser reported that the Governor’s advisors urged him to drop the issue, but Ehrmann insisted the fight go on. Boston Advertiser, May 5, 1963. Herbert Ehrmann blamed the police lobby for the bill’s failure. Herbert Ehrmann, Speech, Box 40, Folder 16, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
116 Boston Globe, May 7, 1963; Boston Post-Gazette, Aug. 9, 1963; Medford Mercury, May 7, 1963. See generally Kerrigan, 188 N.E.2d 484. Early in September, a Medford man killed a police officer, and the wave of outrage caused the Council to vote six to three against Kerrigan’s commutation. Boston Rec.-Am., Nov. 8, 1963; Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Sept. 25, 1963. As a result of Furman, Kerrigan was resentenced to life imprisonment. Stewart v. Massachusetts, 408 U.S. 845, 845 (1972). See generally Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972).
117 For Peabody’s softer abolitionist position, see Springfield Union, Dec. 2, 1963. During the Democrat primary, Bellotti often raised the question of capital punishment. See, e.g., Springfield Union, Apr. 20, 1964. Ehrmann feared that Bellotti would make Peabody’s opposition to the death penalty the central issue; however, in fact, Bellotti’s position was very similar to Peabody’s. Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Honorable Edward J. McCormack Jr., May 11, 1964, Box 18, Folder 39, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. For election results, see Barbrook, supra note 1, at 140–43.
118 Boston Globe, Feb. 4, 1965; Boston Rec.-Am., Feb. 25, 1965. McGrath was appointed Commissioner of Corrections for New York City. N.Y. Times, Mar. 3, 1966.
119 Boston Globe, June 6, 1965; Boston Traveler, Feb. 17, 1965. The eight prisoners on death row included Charles Tracy, John Kerrigan, Ronald Jackson, Peter Ladetto, Jack Harris, Paul Smith, George McLaughlin, and Ronald Fisher. Boston Rec.-Am., June 30, 1972. A moratorium failed to pass in July, but Volpe managed to win acceptance of the measure in 1967. Boston Traveler, Aug. 8, 1967.
120 Commonwealth v. Tracy, 207 N.E.2d 16, 18 (Mass. 1965).
121 Id. at 19.
122 Id. at 17–19.
123 Id. at 21, 23. A majority of the court rejected Tracy’s argument that the incriminating statements he made when interrogated by a police officer as he lay wounded at the hospital violated his constitutional right to remain silent and to an attorney as stated by the Supreme Court. See id. at 22–23. See generally Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478 (1964).
124 See generally Rudolph v. State, 152 So. 2d 662 (Ala. 1963), cert. denied 375 U.S. 889 (1963).
125 See Ian Gray & Moira Stanley, A Punishment in Search of a Crime 330–31 (1989).
126 Id.
127 See generally Commonwealth v. Tracy, 207 N.E.2d 16 (Mass. 1965); Ronald P. Formisano, Boston Against Busing (1991). For King’s visit, see Boston Globe, Apr. 22, 1965.
128 The Parole Board’s function was to hold a hearing on a commutation petition and then to make a recommendation to the Governor. If the Board’s recommendation was in favor of commutation, the Governor might then submit the issue to the Executive Council. After a hearing, the Council made a recommendation to the Governor who then made the final decision.
129 Boston Herald, Sept. 24, 1966. Between 1950 and 1960, Boston lost about 100,000 white people and gained 25,000 black people. Alan Lupo, Liberty’s Chosen Home 135, 147 (1978). Volpe easily defeated Democrat Edward McCormack to win the first four-year term for governor in Massachusetts history. Barbrook, supra note 1, at 152–53.
130 Boston Globe, Nov. 28, 1966.
131 See Tracy, 207 N.E.2d at 24–25 (Whittemore, J., dissenting).
132 Id. (Whittemore, J., dissenting).
133 Id. (Whittemore, J., dissenting); Boston Globe, Nov. 28, 1966; see also Beverly Times, Dec. 2, 1966.
134 Tracy, 207 N.E.2d at 25.
135 Petition for Charles E. Tracy from the Boston College Faculty, to Governor Volpe (Dec. 5, 1966) Box 27, Folder 65, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9; Boston Herald, Aug. 8, 1967.
136 Boston Globe, Dec. 8, 1966.
137 Boston Herald, Aug. 8, 1967. Cushing’s statement appeared originally in The Mentor, A Penal Publication and was reprinted by the MCADP along with an interview. Cushing, supra note 105; MCADP reprints, Box 37, Folder 2, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. MCADP had long opposed a popular referendum on the question of capital punishment. See, e.g., Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Oct. 24, 1957; Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Attorney General Edward McCormack, Mar. 18, 1959, Box 4, Folder 71, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. The MCADP consistently opposed a public referendum on the issue of capital punishment, believing that voters were too likely to be swayed by emotion rather than reason. Springfield Union, Dec. 10, 1957; Letter from Vivian Pierce to Sara Ehrmann, May 5, 1931, Box 18, Folder 96, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9; Letter from Edward McCormack to Sara Ehrmann, May 18, 1959, Box 4, Folder 71, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9; Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Summer Kaplan, July 27, 1961, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9
138 Charles W. Bartlett, The President’s Page, 11 Boston B. J. 1, 3–4 (Feb. 1967). After her “retirement,” Ehrmann remained active in the Friends of Prisoners and the Norfolk Lifer’s Group until 1988. Boston Globe, Mar. 20, 1993. Sara Ehrmann died March 17, 1993 at the age of ninety-seven. Boston Globe, Mar. 20, 1993. The MCADP’s office, at 14 Pearl Street, Brookline, was demolished as part of an urban renewal project in 1968. David Skerry, a Boston College Law School student, worked with Ehrmann in the summer of 1967 to sort through her vast anti-capital punishment collection. She initially thought her collection might be housed at Boston College Law School, but that plan fell through. The collection went to Northeastern University Law School; after several years the collection was moved to Northeastern University. See Boston Rec.-Am., June 30, 1972; Letter from David P. Skerry to Sara Ehrmann, Sept. 17, 1967, Box 19, Folder 44, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
139 Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Charles Sprague, June 19, 1951, Box 19, Folder 47, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9.
140 Following passage of the mercy bill in 1951, Ehrmann predicted that lawyers “themselves will come to demand abolition of capital punishment.” Letter from Sara Ehrmann to Charles Sprague, June 19, 1951, Box 19, Folder 47, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. According to a letter sent to all MCADP members in June 1971, Tribe and Silber testified before the Judiciary Committee in 1970 and 1971. In the same letter, the new president of MCADP also reported that John Flackett, Boston College Law School professor, and Frank Heffron, formerly with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, had met with Governor Sargent to work out ways to extend the respites due to expire for four men on death row. Letter from Louis L. Brin, President of the MCADP, to Members, June 1971, Ehrmann Papers, supra note 9. For a list of Bedau’s publications on the death penalty, see The Death Penalty, supra note 9, at 474–75.
141 John F.X. Davoren, Elections Statistics, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts 400 (1968).
142 Id. at 400–06; Boston Globe, July 25, 1965. For Sargent’s 1970 campaign statement, see Boston Globe, Dec. 10, 1973.
143 Commonwealth v. Gilday, 327 N.E.2d 851, 853, 854, 856 (Mass. 1975); Boston Globe, Mar. 8, 1972; Boston Globe, Mar. 1, 1972; Boston Globe, Feb. 16, 1972.
144 Gilday, 327 N.E.2d at 856–57; Boston Herald Traveler, May 24, 1972. At Walpole State Prison, Bond killed himself when a bomb he was making exploded. Boston Herald, May 24, 1972.
145 Gilday, 327 N.E.2d at 854, 855; Boston Globe, Sept. 20, 1993. Saxe’s first trial ended in a hung jury. She later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received a twelve to fourteen-year sentence. She was paroled in 1982. N.Y. Times, Oct. 7, 1993. For details on Power, see Boston Globe, Sept. 15, 1993.
146 See generally Stewart v. Massachusetts, 408 U.S. 845 (1972).
147 See generally Commonwealth v. LeBlanc, 299 N.E.2d 719 (Mass. 1973).
148 Stewart, 408 U.S. at 845; Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 240, 307–08 (1972) (Stewart, J., concurring); Gilday, 327 N.E.2d at 853, 856, 866. See generally Commonwealth v. O’Neal, 327 N.E.2d 662 (Mass. 1975) (O’Neal I); Commonwealth v. A Juvenile, 300 N.E.2d 439 (Mass. 1973). For Valeri’s testimony, see Boston Globe, Feb. 24, 1972. The Boston Record-American, reported that Gilday joined twenty-three men on “death row.” Boston Rec.-Am., June 30, 1972. Delaware and North Carolina struck down their state’s mercy laws. See generally State v. Dickerson, 298 A.2d 761 (Del. 1972); State v. Waddell, 194 S.E.2d 19 (N.C. 1973).
149 LeBlanc, 299 N.E.2d at 726–27.
150 Id.
151 442 Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 119, � 61 (1973) (repealed 1996); Commonwealth v. A Juvenile, 300 N.E.2d at 439–40; Supplemental Brief for the Defendant at 5 (quoting Furman, 408 U.S. at 309–10), 6–8, Commonwealth v. A Juvenile, 300 N.E.2d 439 (Mass. 1973) (on file at Massachusetts SJC Archives).
152 Commonwealth v. A Juvenile, 300 N.E.2d at 442.
153 Id. at 439–40, 442. See generally O’Neal I, 327 N.E.2d 662.
154 Request for Opinions from Supreme Judicial Court on Proposed House Bill No. 7231; Boston Globe, Aug. 9, 1973; Boston Globe, Mar. 6, 1973.
155 Within this article, the text adheres to the difference between the Massachusetts Constitution and the U.S. Constitution with regard to limiting the scope of punishment; the former cites “cruel or unusual punishments “ while the latter references “cruel and unusual punishments.” U.S. CONST. amend. VIII; MASS. CONST. Part I, art. 26.
156 Request for an Advisory Opinion, Brief for Attorney General at 12, 14–16, Commonwealth v. A Juvenile, 300 N.E.2d 439 (Mass. 1973) (on file at Massachusetts SJC Archives); see Furman, 408 U.S. at 286–87; Trop v. Dulles Secretary of State, 356 U.S. 86, 100–01 (1958).
157 Boston Globe, Oct. 3, 1973.
158 Boston Globe, Oct. 5, 1973.
159 For the vote, see Boston Globe, Oct. 2, 1973. For the murders, see Boston Globe, Oct. 5, 1973 and Boston Globe, Oct. 3, 1973. For the House vote, see Boston Globe, Nov. 26, 1973.
160 Boston Globe, Dec. 4, 1973. On November 30, 1973, Terrell Walker murdered John Schroeder during a holdup of a Roxbury pawn shop murdered. Boston Globe, Nov. 30, 1973.
161 The media reported the Police Chiefs’ letter on the same day as Silber’s comments. Boston Globe, Dec. 4, 1973. For the Governor’s meeting with 600 police officers, see Boston Globe, Dec. 6, 1973.
162 Boston Globe, Dec. 10, 1973; Boston Globe, Dec. 9, 1973.
163 Boston Globe, Apr. 2, 1974; Boston Globe, Mar. 28, 1974; Boston Globe, Mar. 26, 1974; Boston Globe, Mar. 12, 1974; Boston Globe, Mar. 6, 1974; Boston Globe, Dec. 15, 1973.
164 Boston Globe, Apr. 4, 1982. For Dukakis’ veto, see Boston Globe, Apr. 30, 1975. Senate President Kevin Harrington (D. Salem) cast the deciding vote against overriding Dukakis’ veto. Boston Globe, May 2, 1975. During the 1988 presidential campaign, George Bush was critical of Dukakis’ veto of death penalty legislation.
165 Commonwealth v. O’Neal, 327 N.E.2d 662, 663, 664 (Mass. 1975) (O’Neal I); Boston Globe, Aug. 9, 1973; Boston Globe, June 9, 1973.
166 Honorable G. Joseph Tauro, 61 Mass. L. Q. 19, 19–22 (1976); Boston Globe, Oct. 7, 1994 (noting, in Tauro’s obituary, a quote from a 1970 Globe comment on his appointment).
167 Lombardo v. D.F. Frangioso & Co., 269 N.E.2d 836, 840 (Mass. 1971).
168 United Factory Outlet, Inc. v. Jay’s Stores, Inc., 278 N.E.2d 716, 727 (Mass. 1972).
169 Jay’s Stores, 278 N.E.2d at 727; D.F. Frangioso, 269 N.E.2d at 840. See generally Commonwealth v. Mutina, 323 N.E.2d 294 (Mass. 1975); Commonwealth v. Cain, 279 N.E.2d 706 (Mass. 1972).
170 Justice William Brennan is credited with spurring the move to state constitutionalism. See Michigan v. Mosley, 423 U.S. 96, 120 (1975) (Brennan, J., dissenting); Herbert P. Wilkins, Judicial Treatment of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights in Relation to Cognate Provisions of the United States Constitution, 14 Suffolk U. L. Rev. 887, 890 (1980). For Chief Justice Hennessey’s comment encouraging lawyers to make greater use of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, see Commonwealth v. Harris, 358 N.E.2d 982, 988 (Mass. 1976) (quoting Brown v. Mississippi, 297 U.S. 278, 287 (1936)) and Boston Globe, Aug. 3, 1986.
171 O’Neal I, 327 N.E.2d at 665.
172 Id.
173 Id.
174 Id. at 667 n.5.
175 Id. at 668.
176 O’Neal I, 327 N.E.2d at 668.
177 Id.
178 Id. at 667 n.5, 668.
179 Id. at 669 (Wilkins, J., concurring).
180 Id. (Wilkins, J., concurring); Trop, 356 U.S. at 101.
181 O’Neal I, 327 N.E.2d at 670 (Hennessey, J., concurring). See generally Trop, 356 U.S. 86.
182 Commonwealth’s Supplemental Brief at 6, 8, 10, 35, Commonwealth v. O’Neal, 339 N.E.2d 676 (Mass. 1975) (O’Neal II) (on file at Massachusetts SJC Archives) (reiterating Ehrlich’s argument that one execution “may” save lives); Isaac Ehrlich, The Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment: A Question of Life and Death, 65 Am. Econ. Rev. 397, 414 (1975).
183 Defendant’s Supplemental Brief, 2, 12, 20, 28, Commonwealth v. O’Neal, 339 N.E.2d 676 (Mass. 1975) (O’Neal II) (on file at Massachusetts SJC Archives).
184 See generally 339 N.E.2d 676 (Mass. 1975). The paragraph-long majority opinion of the court was followed by concurring opinions from each of the majority members: Tauro, Hennessey, Wilkins, Kaplan, and Braucher (who concurred only in the result of the court); Justices Reardon and Quirico dissented. See id. at 677.
185 Id. at 679 n.3 (Tauro, C.J., concurring).
186 Id. at 677 n.1, 679 n.3, 677 (Tauro, C.J., concurring).
187 Id. at 685 (Tauro, C.J., concurring).
188 Id. at 685, 687, 682–86 (Tauro, C.J., concurring).
189 O’Neal II, 339 N.E.2d at 688 (Tauro, C.J., concurring).
190 Id. at 688 n.23 (Tauro, C.J., concurring).
191 Id. (Tauro, C.J., concurring).
192 Id. at 688 n.23, 688 (Tauro, C.J., concurring).
193 Id. at 690 (Tauro, C.J., concurring).
194 O’Neal II, 339 N.E.2d at 690 (Tauro, C.J., concurring).
195 Id. (Tauro, C.J., concurring).
196 Boston Globe, Dec. 26, 1975; Boston Globe, Dec. 23, 1975.
197 Harold Stanley & Richard G. Niemi, Vital Statistics in American Politics 30 (1992).
198 See generally Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976).
199 See id. at 153, 160–61.
200 Opinion of the Justices to the House of Representatives, 364 N.E.2d 184, 188 (1977).
201 Id. at 186.
202 Id. at 188.
203 Gregg, 428 U.S. at 153, 160–61, 186, 188; Opinion of the Justices, 364 N.E.2d at 186, 188. The opinion was signed by five of the SJC’s seven justices. See id.
204 1979 Mass. Acts 488; Dist. Attorney for Suffolk Dist. v. Watson, 411 N.E.2d 1274, 1975, 1977–78 (Mass. 1980). For details about the 1978 electoral contest between Dukakis and King, see Richard Gaines & Michael Segal, Dukakis and the Reform Impulse 157–63 (1987).
205 Watson, 411 N.E.2d at 1282.
206 Id.
207 Id.
208 Id. at 1283.
209 Id. at 1285–86.
210 Watson, 411 N.E.2d at 1282, 1283, 1285–86.
211 Id. at 1289 (Liacos, J., concurring).
212 Id. at 1289–90 (Liacos, J., concurring).
213 Id. at 1289, 1289–90, 1294 (Liacos, J., concurring); Boston Globe, May 8, 1999.
214 MASS. CONST. Part I, art. 26; Commonwealth v. Colon-Cruz, 470 N.E.2d 116, 118 (Mass. 1984).
215 Colon-Cruz, 470 N.E.2d at 118.
216 Id. at 121.
217 Id.
218 Id. at 121, 124, 128. Chief Justice Hennessey cited United States v. Jackson, 390 U.S. 570, 581 (1968), in which the Court found a similar statute unconstitutional. Id. at 130 (Hennessey, C.J., concurring).
219 Following the murder of ten-year-old Jeffrey Curley in October 1997, acting Governor Paul Cellucci sought to have the death penalty reinstated, but the bill was defeated in the House by a single vote. Boston Globe, Nov. 8, 1997; Boston Globe, Nov. 7, 1997.