Wilkerson faces disbarment for testimony

Accused of lying in nephew's court case

State Senator Dianne Wilkerson denies claim.

State Senator Dianne Wilkerson, who has been dogged by legal troubles for years and lost the Democratic primary for her seat last month, now faces the possibility of disbarment.

The state Office of the Bar Counsel filed a complaint yesterday accusing Wilkerson of violating the rules of professional conduct by lying under oath at a 2005 court hearing at which her nephew, Jermaine Berry, requested a new trial on a manslaughter conviction.

Wilkerson, who joined the bar in 1981 but has not practiced in a decade, gave "intentionally false, misleading, and deceptive testimony" at the Suffolk Superior Court hearing and in a sworn affidavit, according to the eight-page petition for discipline.

In both the court appearance and the affidavit, the complaint said, Wilkerson falsely claimed that she was present at a Boston police station when two homicide detectives interviewed another nephew, Isaac Wilkerson, about the 1994 stabbing death of Hazel Mack. Berry was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in Mack's death, but the senator testified that Isaac Wilkerson made statements that implicated himself during the interview.

Wilkerson also lied when she testified that the detectives repeatedly turned a tape recorder off and on during the interview, the disciplinary complaint said.

The Bar Counsel, which acts like a prosecutor in claims of violations of the professional code, also accused Wilkerson of lying to the office in a 2006 letter responding to allegations that she gave false testimony in court. The complaint also said she lied to the Bar Counsel during testimony at the office on Feb. 29 this year.

Wilkerson, who last month vowed to run a sticker campaign as a Democrat to reclaim the Boston seat she has held for 15 years, was out of state and could not be reached for comment yesterday. Her lawyer, Max D. Stern, called the allegations "nonsense" and said his client had no reason to fabricate a claim that could have helped one of her nephews by incriminating the other.

"There's nothing in it for her to be making this up," said Stern, who added that the disciplinary complaint "is going nowhere."

Detective Jack Parlon, former president of the Boston Police Detectives Benevolent Society, which filed a complaint with the Bar Counsel about Wilkerson's court testimony, was pleased to hear about the petition for discipline and said he hoped she is disbarred.

"If she lied - and we allege that she did - and there's an agency that found that she did lie, then c'est la vie," said the 39-year veteran of the force. "No one is above the law."

The state's highest court suspended Wilkerson from practicing law for a year in 1999 as a result of another complaint, stemming from her 1997 conviction for tax evasion and a parole violation in which she twice failed to return home before a 9 p.m. curfew. She never applied to be reinstated and still has a suspended license.

Constance V. Vecchione, the Bar Counsel, declined to comment yesterday because the matter is pending.

The Board of Bar Overseers, which investigates complaints against lawyers, is expected to appoint a hearing officer or committee to examine the allegations and recommend discipline, if warranted. Sanctions issued by the board range from a private admonition to disbarment. The most serious sanctions, such as suspension or disbarment, are reviewed by the state's highest court.

Sonia Chang-Díaz, the former policy analyst from Jamaica Plain who defeated Wilkerson for the Democratic nomination, was unavailable for comment, according to her spokeswoman, Deborah Shah.

Wilkerson has commanded strong support from top politicians, including Governor Deval Patrick and Mayor Thomas M. Menino, but her history of legal woes has made her one of the most controversial figures on Beacon Hill.

Just two months ago, she paid a $10,000 fine to the state attorney general's office and acknowledged campaign finance violations dating back to 2000. The violations related to improper reimbursements of campaign contributions to herself and failing to report some contributions.

In the income tax case more than a decade ago, she pleaded guilty to four misdemeanors and served 30 days in a halfway house.

"I think the voters of her district have been overly forgiving over the years," said state Senator Richard Tisei, the Republican minority leader. "It's sad to see her troubles continuing to mount. There's nobody in the Senate who had more potential than Dianne Wilkerson. It seems as though she's had self- inflicted problem after problem after problem."

Barney Keller, a spokesman for the state Republican Party, called it "amazing and kind of sad" that Democrats "still validate her behavior by pledging to support her in her write-in campaign."

Patrick, who recorded phone messages of support for Wilkerson before the primary but now backs Chang-Díaz, declined to comment.

Wilkerson's lawyer acknowledged his client's history of legal problems but said they hardly bolster the credibility of the disciplinary complaint.

"She had trouble with her taxes, she had trouble with campaign finance," he said. "But nobody ever said she's dishonest, that she made up things."