BOSTON (AP) - The state Bar Counsel filed a complaint accusing
state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson on Friday, accusing her of lying under
oath in an effort to overturn her nephew's manslaughter conviction.
The counsel, which investigates and prosecutes professional
complaints against lawyers, filed the petition with the state Board
of Bar Overseers. The Boston Democrat - who's running a sticker
campaign for re-election after losing the primary - could face
disbarment.
The complaint alleges that Wilkerson signed a false affidavit
and lied at a 2005 court hearing seeking a new trial for Jermaine
Berry, who was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 1995 and
again in a 2001 retrial. It says Wilkerson also lied to the bar
counsel in its investigation of the allegations against her.
Wilkerson and her attorney did not immediately return calls
seeking comment on Friday.
The complaint alleges that Wilkerson deliberately signed a false
affidavit and repeatedly lied under oath when she claimed that she
was present when a distant cousin gave a statement to police that
suggested he, not Berry, had fatally stabbed Hazel Mack in 1994.
The senator indicated that police did not have records of the
statement because detectives turned their tape recorder on and off
during their interview with her distant cousin, according to the
complaint.
The complaint says Wilkerson arranged for her cousin to turn
himself in for police interviews and the senator did not attend the
unrecorded and recorded sessions.
A judge later ruled that Wilkerson's testimony that she was
present during the interview was "irreconcilable with the tape
recording and the police record of the interview," according to
the complaint.
Wilkerson was suspended from practicing law for one year in 1999
after a tax evasion conviction and did not seek reinstatement.