In a case that resembles more than a few prosecutions of police officers in Minnesota, this one involves another Soros-backed district attorney who took aim at a police officer.
Jennifer Finnerty joined Liz Collin on her podcast to talk about the years-long battle in Boston to find justice for her husband, former Sgt. David Finnerty with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
During an overnight shift in the summer of 2018, then-Sgt. Finnerty was the temporary officer in charge. A homeless man was arrested by another officer—miles away. That man filed an allegation of excessive force against the other officers. Although Finnerty’s relatives say he became a whistleblower in the case, that didn’t stop Soros-backed prosecutor Rachael Rollins from indicting him for aiding in the commission of an assault.
Jennifer Finnerty said, “It’s definitely been tough as we try to keep life as normal as possible for our young girls … It’s definitely tough, but we have to try to remain positive because we have to go forward and for our girls and try to keep their lives as normal as possible and try not to allow what is really affecting us to interfere with them.”
In recalling some of the details of the strange circumstances—and possible political interference—in this case, Finnerty said, “It really is tough to explain. And whenever we tell our story, everyone’s like, how is your husband in this situation? He is the only one that has gone on to be charged.”
“My husband was the only one when command staff came in and he let them know this was not a justified use of force that the patrolmen use. And instead of going into the room where the patrolman and another sergeant were working on a report, he went into another room and just watched in real time them writing the report. He never went in to go question them or anything. And we believe they’re trying to cover up the political interference that Rachael Rollins had in a Suffolk County DA race. And my husband, unfortunately, was the scapegoat of all of this,” she explained.
Rollins was the state prosecutor on the case. She was later promoted to U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts under former President Joe Biden—and later resigned after an investigation found that her conduct “violated federal regulations, numerous DOJ policies, her Ethics Agreement, and applicable law, and fell far short of the standards of professionalism.”
The investigation also concluded that “Rollins falsely testified under oath during her OIG interview when she denied that she was the federal law enforcement source that provided nonpublic, sensitive DOJ information” to a reporter.
She also alleged Finnerty drafted a false police report to cover up the unlawful use of force.
Finnerty explained that, “Over the course of four years, we were waiting to go to trial and on the day before trial, the original police report suddenly appeared. Now, for all four years, my husband’s lawyer was requesting this police report, and we were told it didn’t exist. And then, all of a sudden, on the day before trial, it comes out, and it shows that my husband, in fact, did not do what they said that he did in this report, cleared him of all charges. So then the DA came and said they could no longer move forward with prosecuting my husband because this report shows that he had no wrongdoing.”
Much like the officers involved in the arrest of George Floyd, both state and federal charges were filed. While the George Floyd case seized the national spotlight, the Finnertys were not even aware that a federal grand jury launched an investigation.
“We had no idea it was taking place. And once we found out that it was taking place, we actually believed it was on the command staff and not on my husband. And then we found out that it was on my husband. But, yes, we had no idea that it was taking place,” Finnerty said of the grand jury investigation.
Even though the state charges were dropped, Finnerty is still set to go on trial in federal court in May. He is facing 20 years in prison.
When Collin asked about justice in this case, Finnerty said, “It’s hard to believe that there really is justice. You go through something like this and it has really opened my eyes. I never kind of knew that all of this was happening to people until it started to happen to us. It’s hard to have faith in our justice system when we’re going through something that we shouldn’t even be going through.”
A fund has been set up to help David Finnerty’s legal defense.
Liz Collin
Liz Collin is a multi-Emmy-Award-winning investigative reporter, news anchor, and producer who cares about Minnesota. She is the producer of The Fall of Minneapolis and Minnesota v We the People documentary films, and author of the Amazon best-selling book, They’re Lying: The Media, the Left, and The Death of George Floyd. Her work has prompted important state laws. Yet perhaps most of all, Liz has been giving a voice to the truth—and helping others tell their stories—for more than 20 years.
