Appeal over city pension draws interest
The case of Ralph J. Maher, the Quincy plumbing inspector who is fighting to regain the city pension he lost in the wake of a criminal conviction for breaking into City Hall, is headed back to the state Appeals Court.
Quincy District Court Judge Mark S. Coven last month ruled that Maher should not regain his pension because he pleaded guilty in July 2003 to breaking and entering into a City Hall office, among other offenses.
The judge also noted in his decision, however, that the case raised serious constitutional questions relating to "excessive fines" that need to be addressed by the Appeals Court, to which the case has already made one trip. It is not known when that court will hear the case.
At issue is whether the Quincy Retirement Board went too far when it revoked Maher's pension in 2003, citing state law, in the wake of his criminal convictions. Maher's lawyer maintains the loss of the pension was too extreme a punishment.
The District Court decision is the latest wrinkle in the six-year-old drama that has attracted widespread interest, partly because it could affect other high-profile pension cases.
Others fighting to regain pensions include former House speaker Thomas M. Finneran, who pleaded guilty to felony obstruction-of-justice charges, and John P. Bulger, a retired juvenile court clerk magistrate, who pleaded guilty to perjury for lying before grand juries investigating the disappearance of his brother, James "Whitey" Bulger.
Maher would have been paid a pension of about $37,000 for his 26 years of service. Maher was 64 when he retired in 2002. Coven said Maher stands to lose, over the course of his expected life, about $576,000 in pension and health care benefits.
Frank J. McGee, Maher's lawyer, argued that depriving Maher of his pension violated the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment and excessive bail.
In December 2001, Maher broke into the personnel office at City Hall in an attempt to remove documents criticizing his performance as chief inspector of gas and plumbing.
He pleaded guilty to breaking and entering in the daytime with intent to commit a crime and theft, as well as destruction of property, which was the door to the office. He was placed on unsupervised probation, ordered to make restitution of $393 for the door, and fined $500.
That was followed by the Quincy Retirement Board's revocation of his pension.
McGee said that, given the relatively light sentence Maher received for his crime, stripping him of his pension was out of proportion and "Draconian." But the judge said that the potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison demonstrated the seriousness of the crime.
"Maher attempted to secure continued employment by fraud," Coven wrote in his decision. Maher's action would have undermined public trust, if he had been successful.
But Coven said the Appeals Court needed to address two questions: Does the forfeiture of a pension trigger the "Excessive Fines Clause" of the US Constitution? And if it does, does Maher's loss of his pension qualify as an excessive fine?
The Appeals Court ruling on those two questions could set a precedent for similar pension cases in other communities across the state.
Matt Carroll can be reached at mcarroll@globe.com. 
