The Duxbury Times

Interrupted by the ‘lockdown’ of much of Boston (and Middlesex County) last Friday (April 19, 2013), North Hill Trial (Johnson Golf Management v. Town of Duxbury et al) resume this morning at 9:00 AM in Room 720 of the Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn, Massachusetts with day 12 of the trial. Since Judge Desmond already had other cases schedule for the afternoon (the trial was expected to go to the jury last Friday) today’s session will only run until 1:00 PM and is likely to involve continued direct and then cross examination of Duxbury’s financial expert witness followed by reading of some parts of depositions into the trial record by the prosecution. It is not likely to get much beyond that.

So the latest expectation is that closing statements by both parties and the Judge’s instructions to the jury will not take place until tomorrow (Tuesday, April 23, 2013) morning with the case (finally!) going to the jury either very late in the morning or early in the afternoon. So, barring further unexpected delays, the jury could come in with a verdict as early as later that day or sometime the following day (Wednesday, April 24, 2013).

Just a brief update (no time for more than that since it was a long day in court and there will be another one tomorrow)!

Today’s session started late (9:47 AM) and ran until 4:00 PM. Outgoing Town Manager Richard MacDonald’s testimony resumed at 10:00 AM and was completed at 12:59 PM at which time court was recessed for the lunch break. The session resumed at 2:07 with continued direct examination of Doug Johnson by his attorney, Steve Follansbee. Follansbee’s initial direct examination of Johnson (which had begun last Thursday but was suspended to resume MacDonald’s testimony last Friday) and wrapped it up at 3:30 PM. Lenny Kesten’s cross-examination of Johnson began then and was not complete when the session was recessed for the day at 4:20 PM.

Tomorrow (Wednesday, April 17, 2013) Kesten’s questioning of Johnson will continue after which Follansbee’s re-direct will begin. Both should complete their questioning of Johnson by sometime later in the morning (probably around 11:00 AM). The next witness will be former Duxbury Select(wo)man Betsy Sullivan. Here testimony is expected to last a couple of hours. The next witness will be former Duxbury Selectman Chris Donato. His testimony might be completed by the end of the day tomorrow — or it might not.

The next witness after Donato is likely to be Emmett Sheehan, who was on the North Hill Advisory Committee (until 2007) prior to the disputed 2008 and 2009 bids and contract awards; who bid on both of those RFPs as Eagle’s Nest Landscaping; and who currently manages the North Hill Golf course though Pilgrim Golf. Sheehan might be called as a witness before the end of the day tomorrow, depending on how long Johnson’s, Sullivan’s, and Donato’s testimony takes. If not, he is likely to be called as the next witness sometime early Thursday (April 18, 2013) morning.

That’s all for now! (Getting to Room 720 of Woburn Superior Court by 9:00 AM requires leaving Duxbury around 7:00 AM so it’s already time to go to bed.)

The Johnson Golf v. Town of Duxbury et al trial wound up its second week on Friday, April 12, 2013 with a full day of proceedings (9:00 AM to 4:00 PM) in Room 720 at the Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn, Massachusetts. That was the eighth day the trial has been in session. It will continue with full 9:00 – 4:00 sessions on Tuesday, April 16 and Wednesday April 17, 2013 in hopes that a may be ready to go to the jury by the end of the day Wednesday or sometime on Thursday, April 18, 2013. It could, however, run even longer.

Tomorrow’s session (Tuesday, April 16, 2013, that is) is expected to continue and conclude the testimony of outgoing Duxbury Town Manager Richard MacDonald. The next witnesses called by the plaintiff are likely (though not certain) to be former Duxbury Select(wo)man Betsy Sullivan, former Selectman Chris Donato, and the current operator of the North Hill Golf Course, Emmett Sheehan. All three were subpoenaed to appear last Friday (April 12) but were excused until tomorrow’s session when it became apparent that testimony by MacDonald and some other witnesses would not be completed before the Patriots Day Holiday weekend. Ms. Sullivan’s April 20, 2012 deposition provides a likely preview of what her court testimony will be.

MacDonald’s testimony is likely to be wrapped up within an hour or two first thing Tuesday morning at which time Ms. Sullivan is likely to be the next witness called. Betsy’s testimony is expect to be relatively brief (probably not more than an hour or two) and most likely Mr. Donato will be next to be called to the witness stand. Chris, during his tenure as Selectman from March 2009 through March 2012, had tried very hard to effect a closer examination and review of the North Hill situation by the Duxbury Board of Selectmen in which effort he was vigorously opposed by Betsy and by then (now dismissed and former) Duxbury Town Counsel, Robert Troy who also had the clear support of Town Manager Richard MacDonald.

Donato, an Assistant United States District Attorney and lawyer, begun to look into the North Hill matter in 2010 and was struck by the incongruity between the total refusal of town officials to even consider settling the lawsuit and their adamant determination to pursue it to the end, on the one hand, and on the other the fact that Judge H. J. Smith, in his February 2, 2009 ruling and injunction keeping Johnson Golf Management in place at North Hill and staying the execution of the five year management contract to Calm Golf, had clearly found that Calm Golf was not even a qualified bidder and the Johnson Golf was likely to win on one or more counts of their complaint against the Town of Duxbury. Donato knew that no judge would issue such an injunction unless it is very clear that Duxbury was on the wrong side of the case.

Instead of taking Donato’s concerns seriously, however, Troy, Sullivan, MacDonald, and others simply ignore the obvious facts of the matter, tried to silence Donato as much as they could, and pressed on with even more egregious misconduct related to North Hill, doggedly persisting in what was clearly a losing case; a case that is now developing, in the courtroom in Woburn, into a major train wreck for Duxbury that will likely cost Duxbury’s taxpayers at least $1,000,000 and potentially, in a worst case scenario, as much as $3,500,000, little if any of which amount will be covered by the town’s insurance.

North Hill Trial Day 6 – Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Picking up where we left off in the end of day summary on Tuesday, April 9, 2013, the Wednesday, April 10, 2013 session (Day 6 of the trial) began with procedural hearing related to a subpoena sent by Johnson Golf’s attorney Steve Follansbee, with strong support from Duxbury’s attorneys as well, to the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for records and individuals to testify concerning the involvement of the OIG in the North Hill contract. Former Town Counsel Robert Troy repeatedly claimed (and continues to claim) that the original rejection of all bids in December 2008 and the re-bid and award of the North Hill Management contract to Calm Golf in January 2009 were all done strictly upon the advice of the OIG. Moreover, the reversal, early in 2011, of the 2009 injunction keeping Johnson Golf in place came about largely as a result of a letter from the OIG that was clearly false. So the facts concerning what was going on between the Town of Duxbury and the OIG is clearly relevant to the lawsuit.

As was expected (and predicted in my EOD summary mentioned above), an attorney from the OIG, Amy McConnell, turned up in court first thing Wednesday morning with a motion to quash the subpoena. After considerable (legal) argument, Judge Desmond denied the motion to quash “without prejudice” and ordered that at least on person from the OIG, Attorney John Craven, appear in the courtroom ready to testify by 11:00 AM, after the mid-morning break. By then it was nearly a quarter to 10:00 AM.

Before bringing in the jury, however, Judge Desmond brought in one of the jurors who had written to him expressing a concern that if the trial ran on as long as Friday, April 19, 2013, that it would interfere with a long-planned family vacation. The juror explained that he had not brought that forward at the start of the trial because the jurors, when first interviewed, had been told to expect the trial to last not more than seven or, worst case, ten days. Judge Desmond apologized for the inconvenience, asked the juror to remain on the jury in hopes that the trial (and jury deliberations) would be concluded as soon as possible, and assured the juror that, in the event the trial was not concluded by noon on Friday, April 19, 2013, that he would be released at that time, so as not to miss his trip.

With that discussion over, the entire jury was called in at 9:50 AM and the judge took a few minutes to explain to the jury why the resumption of the trial had been delayed so long past 9:00 AM and to make sure that all the jurors’ evidence notebooks were updated with newly introduced exhibits in the trial. The trial then resumed, at 9:52 AM, with Duxbury’s lead counsel for the trial, Lenny Kesten, resuming his cross examination of Duxbury Recreation Director Gordon Cushing, concerning, among other things:

• a phone call Troy claimed to have made to the OIG;
• a meeting of the Duxbury Board of Selectmen on October 4, 2012 in which Troy said things that were false but appeared to be agreed to by Cushing, about how the original 2008 Request for Proposals (RFP) for the North Hill Golf Course management contract was drafted;
• about alleged (by Cushing) efforts by Troy’s young associate Craig Jordan allegedly (by Cushing) at Troy’s direction to get Cushing to lie in his original deposition about Troy’s role in drafting the RFP;
• about a March 12, 2011 meeting at the Duxbury Senior Center to discuss a possible settlement of the case in which, according to Cushing, Troy told Follansbee and his clients to “get out!” and told Cushing not to discuss the case with Kesten outside Troy’s presence and not to trust Kesten about anything;
• about a discussion, shortly thereafter, between Cushing and Kesten that was the first in a series of events that eventually led to Troy’s dismissal as Duxbury Town Counsel; and
• about a meeting, in the Mural Room at Town Hall, involving Troy, Kesten, Cushing, MacDonald, Selectman Ted Flynn, and others that led to a MacDonald becoming furious at Troy and walking out of the meeting;
• about Troy saying, at that meeting, according to Cushing’s testimony: “Town officials better remember what they told me to do”.

Kesten’s cross examination of Cushing ended at 10:15 AM and, after a brief sidebar discussion initiated by Attorney Follansbee, Follansbee’s re-direct examination of Cushing began at 10:17 AM. Cushing testified that he knew Troy was lying to Judge Smith at court hearings in January and February 2008 when he claimed that “a consultant” had drafted the RFP and had inserted the “or comparable business enterprise” language in it when, in fact, Troy had come up with that language, many people in town government were involved in the preparation of the RFP, which Cushing himself actually drafted base on extensive discussions within town government, and no input whatsoever came from any consultant.

Follansbee also questioned Cushing about various interactions with the OIG and various other topics related to the bullet points above. Follansbee specifically asked Cushing why, given that he knew Troy was lying in court before Judge Smith on two occasions in January and February 2008 and to the public at the meeting of the Board of Selectmen on October 4, 2010, Cushing appeared clearly to go along with what he now says were lies by Troy that he (Cushing) knew at the time to be such and did not take immediate action to correct them. Cushing said that he did not think it was his place to be publicly contradicting Duxbury’s Town Counsel, though he did subsequently write a memo to “correct the record” of how the RFP was drafted. Cushing said that he (Cushing) reported to the Town Manager (he said he often referred to MacDonald as “the boss” and sometime addressed him as “boss”) and the Town Manager reported to the Board of Selectmen. Follansbee complete his initial cross examination of Cushing at 10:44 AM at which time Kesten began his re-direct examination of Cushing.

Kesten’s re-cross was brief, touching on a 2008 hearing before Judge Smith in which, according to Cushing after being asked by the Judge about information related to setting a bond related to North Hill, Troy came back to the spectator area, asked Cushing for a number, and then falsely gave a different, higher number to the Judge. Kesten also asked Cushing more questions about an incident in which Cushing went to Troy’s office for a meeting with Craig Jordan, early in 2012, to review an affidavit they had drafted for Cushing, prior to his deposition testimony, that Cushing said contained numerous false statements. Cushing said he balked at signing it and, after a lengthy and arduous discussion, lasting 4-5 hours, trying to correct it to Cushing’s satisfaction, Cushing says he signed a much amended but true version. According to Cushing’s testimony, however, Troy’s office then appended the signature page from the corrected affidavit to the original (false) draft that Cushing says he refused to sign, and submitted it to the court over Cushing’s signature. (Troy’s position, however, appears to be that Cushing did in fact sign original affidavit, thereby contradicting Cushing’s account of the matter.) Kesten finished questioning Cushing at about 10:45 at which time Follansbee resumed his direct examination of Cushing with a few more questions.

Follansbee asked Cushing what the information was in the affidavit Troy’s office had prepared for him that Cushing felt so strongly was false and that, according to his testimony, he refused to sign and correct in a long and contentious meeting. Cushing said he did not recall any of the details of this 4-5 hour meeting just a year ago but only that he think one had something to do with the “comparable business enterprise” phrase in the RFP. With that, Cushing’s testimony concluded at 10:50 and attorney’s Follansbee and Kesten informed Judge Desmond that, as with Cushing, they would reverse the usual order of questioning for Richard MacDonald as well, with Kesten, as defense attorney doing the direct examination MacDonald (called as a witness by the plaintiff) and Follansbee (attorney for the plaintiff) doing the cross-examination of the witness. With that, the court recessed briefly for the mid-morning break.

During the break, Attorney Amy McConnell from the OIG returned with John R. Craven, one of the two witnesses subpoenaed (along with all documents related to the North Hill case) from the OIG. The OIG is still resisting production of all but a few documents, but Craven did show up to testify. Judge Desmond came back into the courtroom at 11:13 AM to resume the session, initially without the jury. After some further discussion among the lawyer and the Judge, the jury was brought in and Craven was sworn in as a witness at 11:18 AM. As with Cushing (and as planned with MacDonald) the parties are reversing roles with Kesten doing the direct examination of the witness and Follansbee the cross-examination.

Craven passed the bar in Massachusetts in 1999 and has been with the Office of the Inspector General since 2007. He was one of the attorneys handling calls that came into the 30B hotline at the OIG back in 2008/9 and Kesten questioned him about a call Troy claims to have made to the OIG sometime between November 26, 2008 (the day before Thanksgiving that year) and December 3, 2008 (the day that Richard MacDonald signed a letter saying he was rejecting all the bids received in response to the first RFP sent out in September/October 2008). Troy repeatedly claimed that he made such a call and that the OIG advised him that, because of some issues with how the bid evaluators had filled out the evaluation forms, Duxbury ought to reject all the bids and re-bid the contract.

In testimony earlier in the week Troy said he was sure he made the call but that he did not know who he spoke with and that he did not identify himself to the person he spoke with at the OIG. Craven, however, testified that the OIG’s 30B hotline would not have accepted a call for someone who did not identify himself, logged all calls that came in on the 30B hotline, and that their records showed that the first call logged in relation to the North Hill RFB was on December 8, 2008, several days after all bids had been rejected, a lawsuit against the Town of Duxbury filed by Johnson Golf Management, and a with a new RFP already underway. In short, Craven’s testimony thoroughly undermined the credibility of Troy’s testimony about a supposed anonymous phone call to an anonymous person at the OIG (as Attorney Kesten had repeatedly and disparagingly characterized it during the course of Tory’s testimony earlier in the week).

Follansbee’s questioning of Craven particularly focused on the circumstance behind two different versions of a letter from the OIG to Troy dated January 21, 2011 and January 27, 2011. This letter refers to totally false information purportedly provided to the OIG by “the Town of Duxbury” claiming the Town had only recently learned that Calm Golf had only $169 in assets when awarded the North Hill contract in a January 15, 2009 letter signed by Town Manager Richard MacDonald (which itself contained numerous assertions that are were admitted last week, in sworn testimony, by both Cushing and MacDonald to have been completely false). The letter was, however, though based on false information, crucial to getting the injunction that had kept Johnson Golf in place at North Hill vacated in March 2011 paving the way for the completion of a new bid process, via an Information for Bid (IFB, rather than an RFP) and the award of the contract to the successful (but only) bid by the newly formed Pilgrim Golf.

Craven’s appearance and testimony, though helpful did not fully satisfy either the requirements of the subpoena or the evidentiary requirements of either party. When he stepped down from the witness chair and was excused for the day (at least) at 12:03 PM, after considerable discussion in open court and at sidebar, the matter was ongoing. With only slightly more than 3/4 of an hour left for the day’s session, Town Manager Richard MacDonald was finally sworn in as a witness at 12:13 PM and Duxbury’s lead attorney for the case, Lenny Kesten, began direct examination of him.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

This is a brief end-of-day update on the North Hill trial for Tuesday, April 9, 2013. Scheduled to run from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, today’s session got off to a late start at 9:26 AM because of the late arrival of one of the jurors. It began with Judge Desmond reading instructions to the jurors, agreed to by both parties, informing them that although some testimony was being heard concerning the 2011 rescission of the disputed January 2008 contract award to Calm Golf and subsequent award award to Pilgrim Golf, that these events were not directly at issue in the present case. Judge Desmond told the jurors that if they chose to take such testimony into account they could do so, but only insofar as they felt it had relevance to the 2009 contract award that is in dispute in the case.

Former Duxbury Town Counsel Robert S. Troy’s testimony resumed at 9:32 AM and continued until he was dismissed a few minutes after 11:00 AM. Johnson Golf’s attorney, Steve Follansbee continued his questioning of Troy until 10:18 AM at which time Duxbury’s lead counsel in the case, Lenny Kesten, took over with further questions for Troy, wrapping up his (further) questions at 10:36 AM. At this point Follansbee requested a conference with the judge and the town’s attorneys. After a brief sidebar discussion, the judge told the jury that this discussion would take a while and that he would dismiss them for their mid-morning break while the matter was worked out with the lawyers.

When the jury came back in at 11:05 AM, the judge told them that a statement Troy had made earlier (claiming that Duxbury has ‘won’ the case because the injunction keeping Johnson Golf was eventually lifted and Duxbury was able to rebid the contract and award it to Pilgrim Golf) was agreed by both parties to have been “inaccurate”. He told the jurors, in effect, that it would be up to them to decide the case and that they should disregard what Troy had said.

At this point Troy was dismissed as a witness and, at 11:07 AM, Duxbury Recreation Director Gordon Cushing resumed his testimony, which had been suspended at the end of the session on Thursday, April 4, 2013, still under the first round of questioning by Follansbee, which lasted until 12:18 PM. Kesten’s cross-examination of Cushing went on until 12:55 PM when the judge interrupted the proceedings and called the attorneys to a brief sidebar conference after which he told the jury that “we are going to stop for the day”, and noted that both parties want to make it very clear that Troy’s views concerning the prior judge in the case (about which Cushing had been testifying) were not the views of any of the parties at the trial.

Cushing had testified, among other things, that Troy had said that Judge Herman Smith (who originally presided over the case) had been mistaken in his ruling in the 2008 injunction keeping Johnson Golf in place; that Smith was depressed and might have been on medication; that Smith was not going to give “us” (Duxbury) a fair shake because he (Smith) was prejudiced against white people (Judge Smith, like Judge Desmond who is now presiding in the case, is African-American); and that “we don’t want to do a trial in Woburn” because “everyone there is against us”. Presumably these are the (alleged) views of attorney Troy that the present attorneys for both parties were concerned to assure the jury were not their own.

Judge Desmond also told the jury that although he had originally hoped the case might be ready to go to the jury by the end of the day on Friday, April 12, 2013, it now appears that it will be Wednesday or possibly even Thursday of next week before that happens. He said the session this Friday (April 12, 2012) would go all day (again, as had the session last Friday) and that he was considering extending the session next Wednesday (April 17, 2013) to a full day as well.

The trial resumes tomorrow (Wednesday, April 10, 2013) at 9:00 AM. Follansbee has subpoenaed witnesses from the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General to appear tomorrow to testify about contacts with Duxbury over the North Hill contracts, however no one seems actually to expect them to show up (except to nominally put in a non-functional appearance with a motion to quash the subpoena). If they do, however, Cushing’s testimony will be interrupted (again) to hear them, resuming after they testify.

Otherwise, Cushing will be back on the witness stand tomorrow at 9:00 AM (or as soon as all the jurors get there). Once Cushing’s testimony is done (likely sometime later in the morning tomorrow), the next witness will be Duxbury’s (present but outgoing) Town Manager, Richard R. MacDonald. MacDonald’s testimony is likely to last at least well into the day on Thursday, April 11, 2013. Johnson Golf Management’s financial expert will also be a likely witness on Thursday.

Friday, April 12, 2013 is expected to be a crucial day in the trial with some of the most important testimony from three key witnesses who have now been summoned by the plaintiff to appear on that day: Former Selectman Betsy Sullivan; former selectman Chris Donato, and Emmett Sheehan.

Sheehan had been a member of the North Hill Advisory Committee prior to the 2008 contract bid; had bid on the contract in 2008 and 2009 through his landscaping company (Eagles Nest Landscaping); and was the sole (and successful) bidder in 2011 with his newly formed company Pilgrim Golf LLC for the North Hill management contract.

Pilgrim Golf has managed the North Hill golf course since being awarded the contract in 2011.

This is a brief summary update of the first four days of the Johnson Golf Management v. Town of Duxbury et al jury trial currently underway in room 720 of the Middlesex Superior Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in Woburn, MA.

Day 1 – Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Jury selection. For details of the first day of the trial, please see the detailed summary page for day one.

Day 2 – Thursday, April 4, 2013

Day 2  included opening statements by Steve Follansbee, attorney of the plaintiff, Johnson Golf Management and Leonard Kesten, lead trial attorney for the Town of Duxbury, and testimony by Duxbury Recreation Director Gordon Cushing. The trial got underway at 9:23 AM with brief comments to the jury by the Judge Desmond, who told the jurors that they would not have transcripts of the trial available for the deliberations, that they would need to assess the credibility of witnesses in the case, and that the burden of proof is on the plaintiff.

Follansbee’s opening statement on behalf of Johnson Golf Management began about 9:30 AM and concluded at 10:00 AM. Follansbee’s opening statement was, in effect, and introduction to Johnson Golf Management and then a narration of the incidents in the case from the plaintiff’s perspective, beginning with disputes over ‘back-to-back’ tee times in 2003/4, the two bid processes in late 2008 and early 2009, various events since then, up through the eventual reversal of the injunction that had kept Johnson Golf in place at North Hill, the cancellation of the 2009 contract award to Calm Golf, and the subsequent award, early in 2011, of a new management contract to the newly-formed Pilgrim Golf.

Follansbee said of the latter contract, “This one takes the cake” because it required that the management company a) a can be ousted for any reason on 10 days notice and b) must waive any right to sue the Town of Duxbury. Follansbee said that “nobody in their right mind” would sign such a contract unless it was a cozy insider deal adding that with the award of that contract to Pilgrim Golf “the fix was in.”

Kesten began his opening statement at 10:00 AM by pointing to the table with the lawyers for Duxbury and saying to the jury, “None of us are Robert Troy”. He said that Troy had said various things at various times to the court, to various Duxbury officials, and to the public that “were not true.” He wound up saying that “a lot of bad stuff happened” and that a key issue the jury would need to decide was, did (Town Manager) Richard Macdonald act in bad faith or was it that he just took Troy’s word for it. Kesten, in effect, acknowledged that the defense, while run by former Town Counsel Robert Troy from when the case was filed in December 2008 until Troy was removed by the selectmen early in 2012, had engaged in doubtful conduct, but implied that it was all Bob Troy’s doing and that others in Town Government simply were following his direction.

Shortly after 10:00 AM Follansbee called his first witness, Duxbury Recreation Director Gordon Cushing, walking Cushing through various events related to the case. In the course of his testimony, Cushing said (among other things) that in 2007/2008, as the Town was getting ready to re-bid the North Hill management contract late in 2008, Emmett Sheehan (then a member of the North Hill Advisory Committee and now operating the course under contract through his company Pilgrim Golf) “volunteered to research” requirements and equipment needed to run a municipal golf course; that in hearings in 2009 Town Counsel Robert Troy had lied to Judge Herman Smith about key facts in the case; and that he (Cushing) had been several times encouraged by Troy or by Troy’s then junior associate, Craig Jordan, to swear to depositions that included false statementsand to make false statements in his deposition.

Cushing also said that a planned session on January 6, 2009 for an attorney (Robert Garrity) with procurement expertise who was handling construction contracts for Duxbury at the time to instruct evaluators of the bids had been cancelled by Town Manager Richard Macdonald. The day ended with Cushing still on the witness stand without completing Follansbee’s initial questioning of him. (After Follansbee finishes his examination of Cushing, Kesten will then have the opportunity for cross examination and then Follansbee for follow up questioning).

Days 3 and 4 – Friday, April 5 and Monday, April 8 2013

In an all-day (9-4) session on Friday, April 5, 2013 Duxbury Recreation Director Gordon Cushing’s testimony was suspended to hear testimony first from Charles Lanzetta, principal of Calm Golf (the company originally awarded the contract in January 2009, which contract was never executed and later rescinded by the town in 2011) and then from former Duxbury Town Counsel Robert Troy who was sworn in as a witness at 11:05 AM. At the end of the day Friday, Troy was still on the stand. Follansbee’s first round of questioning of Troy concluded late in the day and Kesten’s cross-examination of Troy began but was not completed by the end of the session at 4:00 PM. Troy’s testimony resumed the morning of Monday, April 8, 2013.

It was suspended briefly at 11:40 AM to hear testimony from Troy’s office manager about how billing records are handled in Troy’s office after which Kesten’s questioning of Troy continued starting at 11:57 AM. Kesten wrapped up about half an hour later at which time Follansbee began his second round of questioning of Troy. Judge Desmond extended the session for one hour beyond the scheduled 1:00 PM completion time but Troy was still on the stand at 1:58 PM when the jury was excused for the day. Troy’s testimony continues this morning (Tuesday, April 9, 2013). Follansbee said he expects to wrap up his examination of Troy this morning.

Troy has insisted, throughout his testimony, that he never lied to anyone and that his conduct of the case was in all respects proper and correct. He denies that he ever directed anyone in Duxbury town government to do anything, saying he simply offered his advice and then tried to do, as best he could, whatever they wanted him to do. He said, “I did whatever they told me to do.”

What’s Next?

I am wrapping up this brief summary at 4:30 AM the morning of Tuesday, April 9, 2013 and will be heading up to Woburn for Day 5 of the North Hill trial later this morning. Today’s session is scheduled to run from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, as are the sessions scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Friday is currently on the same schedule however Judge Desmond has indicated that he is considering extending it to 4:00 PM as he did last week. Currently the best guesstimate is that the trial will extend into next week with a tentative goal of sending the case to the jury by the end of the day on Wednesday, April 17, 2013.

Today’s session will begin with Troy still on the witness stand. His testimony will likely conclude mid-morning, after which Duxbury Recreation Director Gordon Cushing’s testimony will resume. That will likely take most of the remainder of the day and might even continue over to the following day (Wednesday, April 10, 2013), though it will probably conclude today. Whenever Cushing’s testimony ends, whether later today or tomorrow, the next witness will be Duxbury Town Manager Richard Macdonald.

It is not yet clear which witnesses will be called or in what order after Macdonald. Attorney Follansbee has said, however, that witnesses that will definitely be called as part of his case will certainly include former selectmen Betsy Sullivan, Andre Martecchini, and Chris Donato; current selectman Shawn Dahlen; and several others, as well.

More detailed daily summaries for days 2-4 as well as for subsequent days of the trial will be posted here as time is available to do them. Getting back and forth to Woburn every day to cover the trial requires long commutes through rush hour traffic and leaves limited time to get anything else done.

Will Zachmann