Sen. Wilkerson faces possible discipline

October 3, 2008 04:36 PM Email| Comments (1)| Text size – +

By Jonathan Saltzman and Andrea Estes, Globe Staff

State Senator Dianne Wilkerson, who has been dogged by legal troubles for years, now faces the possibility of disbarment.

The state Bar Counsel today filed a complaint accusing Massachusetts's only black senator of violating the rules of professional conduct by lying under oath at a 2005 court hearing at which her nephew argued for a new trial in a manslaughter case.

Wilkerson gave ``intentionally false, misleading, and deceptive testimony'' at the Superior Court hearing seeking a new trial for her nephew, Jermaine Berry, and in a sworn affidavit, according to the eight-page petition for discipline.

In both the court appearance and in the affidavit, Wilkerson falsely claimed that she was present at a Boston police station when two homicide detectives interviewed another relative, Isaac Wilkerson, about the 1994 stabbing death of Hazel Mack, the petition said. Berry was convicted of voluntary manslaughter a year later in Mack's death.

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

The latest troubles for the veteran legislator come as she wages a write-in campaign to retain her Second Suffolk District seat. She is running against Sonia Chang-Diaz, who beat her in the September primary to win the Democratic nomination.

The Bar Counsel, which acts like a prosecutor concerning claims of wrongdoing by lawyers, also accused Wilkerson of lying to the office in a 2006 letter responding to the allegations and in a meeting at the office on Feb. 29 this year.

Detective Jack Parlon, the former president of the Boston Police Detectives Benevolent Society, which filed the complaint with the Bar Counsel, was pleased to hear that disciplinary proceedings had begun against Wilkerson. He said he hoped Wilkerson is ultimately 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.''

Wilkerson was not immediately available for comment. The state Supreme Judicial Court suspended her from practicing law for a year in 1999. That stemmed 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.

The Board of Bar Overseers 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 SJC.