Newman Flanagan | |
|---|---|
| District Attorney of Suffolk County | |
| In office 1978–1992 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 5, 1930 Roslindale, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Children | Paul A. Flanagan |
| Education | Boston College (BA) New England School of Law (JD) |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service |  United States Navy |
| Battles/wars | Korean War |
Newman A. Flanagan (born March 5, 1930) is an American attorney and politician who served as the district attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts. He was also a State Deputy of Massachusetts in the Knights of Columbus.
Early life and education
Flanagan was born in the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston.[1] He graduated from Boston College High School in 1947 and served in the United States Navy during the Korean War, where he won three battle stars and a unit citation.[1] In 1954, he graduated from Boston College.[1] He spent two years at Boston College Law School and then transferred to the New England Law Boston, where he graduated in 1957.[1]
Career
In May 1961, he took a job working for Suffolk County District Attorney Garrett H. Byrne and in November 1962 he was made an Assistant District Attorney.[1] He prosecuted 2,500 cases, including a successful manslaughter case against physician Kenneth C. Edelin in 1975 for performing an abortion.[1]
Flanagan resigned his position on December 31, 1977 and ran against Byrne for the position of district attorney.[1] He beat Byrne and three others in the Democratic primary on September 19, 1978 and faced no opposition in the general election.[1] After he resigned in 1992, he became the executive director of the National Association of District Attorneys.[2]
Advocacy for the death penalty
Though it was ruled unconstitutional as "cruel or unusual punishment" in court decisions in 1977[3] and in 1980,[4] Flanagan was a vocal advocate for state-sanctioned homicide.
Handling of Carol Stuart murder case
Flanagan again called for reinstating the death penalty during the manhunt for a non-existent Black suspect in the aftermath of the murder of Carol Stuart in 1989.
Flanagan's proposal gained support in the state legislature until the family of Stuart's husband, Charles Stuart, a white man, confessed that he had fabricated the story of a Black carjacker as a racist hoax to successfully deflect the investigators' attention from his own role in the crime.
In 2019, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins formally apologized for Flanagan's role in "traumatizing, humiliating and assaulting black men of every age" in the Mission Hill neighborhood during the 1989 manhunt.[5]
Knights of Columbus
Flanagan joined the Knights of Columbus while at Boston College.[6] He rose through the ranks and was elected State Deputy on May 18, 1980.[6] He served until 1982.[1] His father, James H. Flanagan, was state deputy from 1944 to 1946,[7] making them the only father-son duo to be state deputy in Massachusetts history and only the sixth in the history of the order.[6] His son, Paul A. Flanagan, was elected state deputy in 2018, making them the first three-generation set of state deputies in the history of the Knights of Columbus.[8][9] He went on to become a supreme director.[2]
Personal life
His brother, James H. Flanagan, Jr., was a diocesan priest and his brother Joseph F.X. Flanagan was a Jesuit priest.[7] With his wife Eileen P. Gushue he has four sons and three daughters.[2]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Lapomarda 1992, p. 119.
- 1 2 3 Lapomarda 1992, p. 121.
- ↑ "Bolstering proposed for death penalty". Associated Press. 20 February 1980. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
- ↑ Werfelman, Linda (29 October 1980). "The Massachusetts Supreme Court has struck down the state's death penalty". Retrieved 12 December 2023.
- ↑ Rollins, Rachael. "Transcript of remarks at the 2019 panel discussion on the Carol Stuart case". Commonwealth Magazine. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
- 1 2 3 Lapomarda 1992, p. 120.
- 1 2 Lapomarda 1992, p. 65.
- ↑ Pilot Staff (September 1, 2018). "Mass. Knights install new officers". The Boston Pilot. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
- ↑ O'Malley, Sean Patrick (August 10, 2018). "Attending the Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus". Retrieved April 21, 2019.
Works cited
- Lapomarda, Vincent A. (1992). The Knights of Columbus in Massachusetts (second ed.). Norwood, Massachusetts: Knights of Columbus Massachusetts State Council.