BOSTON — Former state Sen. Dean Tran, a Republican candidate for the third Congressional District, filed a federal lawsuit and injunction claiming Attorney General Maura Healey was motivated by partisan politics when she filed firearm and larceny prices in opposition to him.
A press launch from the Massachusetts GOP states the lawsuit, filed Wednesday, questions the timing of Healey’s July 1 press launch that introduced that Tran had been indicted.
The lawsuit asserts Healey’s announcement got here within the midst of the marketing campaign season as a approach to thwart Tran’s run for the third Congressional District. The former Fitchburg state senator is difficult Democrat incumbent U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, who endorsed Healey in May in her run to succeed Charlie Baker as governor.
Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons described the prison prices levied in opposition to Tran as “a politically-driven hit job,” and expressed satisfaction in Tran for “standing up and hitting back.”
“Democrats like Lori Trahan are walking in lockstep with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the failed presidency of Joe Biden, they know people are hurting, and they know their failed policies mean they’re in big trouble this fall,” Lyons stated within the Massachusetts GOP press launch. “Maura Healey knows this, and this is why she’s gone out of her way to use her position to try and take out a strong Republican candidate like Dean Tran.”
The July 1 press launch from Healey’s workplace on the heart of the lawsuit said Tran had been indicted by a Worcester grand jury on one depend every of larceny of a firearm, larceny over $250 from an individual over 60 or disabled, submitting an software for a license to hold containing false info, acquiring a signature by false pretenses with intent to defraud, deceptive a police investigation and stealing by confining or placing in worry.
Tran is scheduled to be arraigned on the fees in Worcester Superior Court on Thursday.
The Massachusetts GOP press launch states the fees in opposition to Tran stem from an alleged disagreement regarding a lawful firearms sale that occurred three years in the past and had beforehand been investigated.
The day the press launch from Healey’s workplace was issued, Tran put out an announcement by means of his marketing campaign calling the indictment “nothing short of an act of political corruption” and known as the allegations in opposition to him “untrue and categorically false.”
“If this pitiful attempt by the Democrat political machine is the best attempt they have as a kill shot to our campaign, then it reaffirms what we already know, that we are going to WIN this race in November,” Tran stated within the assertion.
The lawsuit states throughout Healey’s almost eight years as the highest regulation enforcement officer in Massachusetts she by no means prosecuted an elected official.
“Her involvement in prosecuting Tran, launched at the height of campaign season, marks the first such instance,” the Massachusetts GOP launch states.
The injunction, which says Tran is pursuing a brief restraining order in opposition to Healey, questions why the AG could be dealing with the case when the “majority of crimes in Massachusetts are prosecuted by the District Attorneys, not the Attorney General who typically only takes high profile or difficult cases requiring the centralized resources of state government.”
The lawsuit additionally states Fitchburg Democratic City Committee Chair Patricia Vacca Martin went on a political program on town’s public entry channel slightly greater than a month earlier than Healey’s press launch asserting the indictment and stated a courtroom date for Tran “is coming up shortly.”
The injunction states, “The leaks in grand jury secrecy, presaging the criminal charges against Mr. Tran, to the Chairwoman of the opposing party’s city committee, and her announcement of them on live television with social media updates, are certainly irregular.”
“What we have here is a corrupt attorney general who habitually uses her position as the top law enforcement officer in the state for purely political purposes,” Lyons stated within the Massachusetts GOP launch.
Healey was not instantly out there for remark concerning the lawsuit and injunction.
The July 1 press launch from Healey’s workplace detailed the allegations made in opposition to Tran. The AG’s workplace stated that in June 2019, whereas visiting an aged constituent, Tran allegedly used his place as a state senator to intimidate the constituent into parting along with her lifeless husband’s firearms and made her signal a ready contract. Tran paid the constituent $1,500 for at the least eight weapons, the AG’s workplace reported.
Tran returned upon request the subsequent day, however did so early within the morning, allegedly forcing his means into the constituent’s house. The constituent was alone and Tran demanded the keys to her late husband’s gun secure, allegedly stealing a Colt .45 whereas the constituent hid in her bed room, based on prosecutor data.
The gun was returned to the constituent at a later date, based on Healey’s workplace.
When interviewed by police concerning the incident, Tran allegedly gave a number of conflicting tales and causes for taking the weapons away. According to the AG’s workplace, that included denying any kind of firearm sale, later producing a gross sales contract for the weapons and disparaging the constituent’s psychological capability earlier than demanding a written apology from her.
Healey’s workplace additionally alleges that Tran made false statements on his May 2019 license-to-carry renewal software.
Follow Aaron Curtis on Twitter @aselahcurtis
Source: www.bostonherald.com”