Mass. House OK's witness protections

The Massachusetts House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill yesterday to create a statewide witness protection program and strengthen gun laws in an effort to quell the violence that has erupted in the streets of Boston and other cities.

The legislation, which passed 151 to 2, would provide $750,000 a year to shield witnesses from intimidation as they offer testimony to grand juries or at criminal trials. Prosecutors, under the bill, could petition a new Witness Protection Board to get witnesses into the program, which could offer participants armed police escorts, surveillance, relocation, and ''reasonable" housing and living expenses.

The passage by the House yesterday all but assures the bill will become law in the coming weeks. The state Senate, which had approved a similar bill last year, plans to come to an agreement quickly with the House on a compromise measure, said a spokeswoman for Senate President Robert E. Travaglini. Governor Mitt Romney has also signaled his support.

''This is an issue that transcends party politics and politics in general," said Representative Stephen R. Canessa, a New Bedford Democrat who cosponsored the bill. ''For years, we've stood flat-footed on the issue of gang violence, and now we've taken a giant step forward."

Lawmakers, especially House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi of Boston, faced intense pressure to take action on the legislation. Boston's homicide rate reached a 10-year high in 2005, while the clearance rate, the percentage of homicides for which a suspect is identified or arrested, has plummeted.

Prosecutors and police have said they have struggled to persuade witnesses to come forward but that many people refuse out of fear of retribution or because of the so-called code of the street, which discourages sharing information with authorities.

The bill would allow judges to withhold transcripts of grand jury testimony from defendants in certain cases, a provision that has drawn criticism from defense attorneys. Proponents of the bill say the testimony has been circulated and used to threaten witnesses; one witness who lived in the Franklin Hill housing project found his testimony taped to doors in the project, as a signal that gang members knew he was cooperating with authorities.

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said he also would lobby House and Senate leaders to make sure the compromise bill includes language that makes it a crime to possess grand jury transcripts unlawfully. The Senate had included that provision, but the House rewrote it.

The bill would also lengthen the mandatory minimum sentence for carrying an unlicensed firearm to 18 months from 1 year, and would make it easier for prosecutors to charge witnesses with perjury if they back off testimony they have provided to a grand jury.

The bill has been championed by state Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, a Cambridge Democrat running for Middlesex district attorney, and Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, a Republican and criminologist. Healey successfully pushed for language that called for cutting red tape at public school districts and housing facilities so that witnesses and their families can go into hiding.

''We look forward to signing a bill to protect and encourage witnesses to come forward to assist in gang cases," Healey said in a phone interview. ''I believe that this will in fact help us gain convictions in some of the most difficult homicide cases confronting our district attorneys."

Lawmakers described the state witness protection program as distinct from the well-known federal program. No witnesses are expected to go into hiding for life. Protection would typically be offered during the duration of a trial. Canessa also said the $750,000 appropriation could be increased if needed.

Other states that are home to cities beset by gang violence have taken similar steps, including Connecticut, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Yesterday lawmakers also added an amendment that said if witnesses entered the protection program but then refused to offer testimony, they could be fined up to $10,000 or face a year in jail.

The two lawmakers who voted against the measure were Benjamin Swan, a Springfield Democrat and dean of the black legislative caucus, and William Lantigua, a Lawrence Democrat.

Swan, in an interview afterward, blasted the bill as ''not worth the paper it's printed on" because he believes it will do nothing to help prevent gang and youth violence. He also disagrees with the imposition of mandatory minimum sentences.

''It does nothing to address the issue of preventing gangs; it does nothing to provide an alternative to gangs," Swan said. ''All this does is increase a mandatory sentence, and I'm against mandatory sentencing because it takes away the discretion of judges."

''I'm overwhelmed, I'm emotional, I'm words you can't even find in Webster's Dictionary, that's how I feel," said Phyllis Lopes of New Bedford, who became an activist against witness intimidation after her grandson was gunned down more than a year ago.