FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                       

 Sept. 19, 2024

Barnstable Superior Court Dismisses Lawsuit Against Barnstable County Sheriff

BOURNE — On Sept. 18, the Barnstable Superior Court dismissed the lawsuit brought against Donna D. Buckley as the Sheriff of Barnstable County by the Cape & Island’s District Attorney.   

From the beginning this action by the District Attorney has been “a solution in search of a problem,” said Sheriff Buckley. “The Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office has never failed to honor the district attorney’s request for case-specific information, and we remain fully committed to meeting the Commonwealth’s obligations under Brady.  

“For more than a year,” Buckley continued, “this misguided effort by the District Attorney has consumed valuable time and resources of the Sheriff’s Office.”

Through this lawsuit, the district attorney sought to go beyond well-established procedures for the Sheriff's Office and local police departments. It sought to compel the Sheriff to provide more than 20 years of personnel material on every employee, employed at any time, regardless of whether those employees were ever involved in a case.  

Yesterday, Superior Court Judge Michael K. Callan agreed with Sheriff Buckley, concluding that the district attorney’s interpretation of the Brady Policy “seeks more than just potentially exculpatory evidence” required by law and that the Sheriff has no duty to comply with the district attorney’s requests made “in the absence of a criminal prosecution.” 

Judge Callan also dismissed a similar lawsuit filed by the district attorney against Sheriff Robert W. Ogden and Dukes County.  "Now we move forward and redirect our efforts where they belong — to public safety for the people of Barnstable County," Sheriff Buckley concluded.