Grand Jury Convened re Borrowed Courthouse Key
A Massachusetts prosecutor reportedly has enlisted the help of state police and a grand jury in investigating as a criminal matter whether a court security officer unlawfully entered her office after hours to get a key to an unoccupied jury room, so attorneys could use the bathroom there.
Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel said in an interview that her investigation centers on an unauthorized entry of a locked office, reports the Boston Globe. But the bottom line seems to be that a great deal of judicial system resources are being used to resolve a spat between officials at the Hadley courthouse that arose from a bureaucratic dispute over office space, according to the newspaper article.
Scheibel disagrees with that assessment of her investigation of the Feb. 19 incident. “This isn’t about a feud. I wouldn’t waste the time on a feud,” she says. “If the tide was turned and it was a judge’s lobby that was entered into and a desk drawer or more were gone through and that was brought to my attention, I’d have an obligation to look into it.”
