In July 2018, Sergeant David Finnerty went to his job at the MBTA Transit Police Department (TPD), in what should have been a normal overnight shift. David, as a newly promoted Sergeant, was given the temporary assignment of Officer-in-Charge (which is usually staffed by two lieutenants) that night without any prior formal training. That night, an arrest incident occurred, involving an allegation of excessive force by a TPD patrolman at a location where David was not present, several miles away from where he was physically situated for the entirety of his shift, which he also did not personally witness in real-time. David was nonetheless criminally indicted and charged in State Superior Court by the newly elected, and Soros-backed progressive DA, Rachel Rollins for allegedly aiding in the commission of an assault in which he did not participate nor was present for, and for supposedly drafting a false report to “cover up” the allegedly unlawful use of force outside of his presence by a patrolman with whom he had no history, despite having absolutely no logical motivation or identifiable reason to do so. Not only did he not cover up the alleged excessive force of the TPD patrolman, but he referred the incident to a Superior Officer in the immediate chain-of-command for further investigation, while expressing concerns about the patrolman’s seeming unlawful conduct. When he was charged, David immediately and emphatically pled not guilty and retained top legal counsel to combat these false and unfounded allegations aggressively and relentlessly.Since then, David and his family have been fighting non-stop to safeguard and protect his liberty, his good name and reputation, his family’s financial well-being, and his hard-earned pension, which is now at risk and inaccessible, in both criminal and civil courts. Throughout it all, he was suspended without pay and simultaneously dealing with a VA service-related disabilities. Notwithstanding the fact that the state criminal case against him was terminated by Rollins’ successor, DA Kevin Hayden, without a conviction, the TPD, after a contentious employment hearing, fired David and are refusing to release a dime of the backpay they are required by Massachusetts law to pay him, which had forced him into further litigation and exhausted his remaining savings and financial resources.

In October of 2022, after four excruciatingly difficult and painful years for David and his family, the Suffolk County DA dismissed all charges against him one day before his Superior Court trial was scheduled to commence, stating, “On October 5, 2022, the Commonwealth learned of new, exculpatory evidence which fundamentally changed its understanding of the case against the defendant…This new evidence establishes that… the defendant was not the source of the false and misleading statements that are at issue in this case.” David’s lawyers have said they believe that the evidence disclosed on the eve of trial, which prompted the DA to terminate the criminal proceedings, constituted exculpatory evidence which his former employer, the TPD, perhaps purposefully and intentionally, withheld and failed to disclose until the very last instance, in violation of David’s U.S. Constitutional Rights. In a related interview with the Boston Globe, the Suffolk County DA, Kevin Hayden, said of his office’s decision to take the unusual and seldom done step of terminating all pending indictments “this new late disclosed evidence, establishes that, although the defendant did revise some portions of the report, he was not the source of the false and misleading statements that are at issue in this case.” He went on to say, “this is proper procedure when you receive new information that undercuts the existing theory of the case” and that, “this is strictly us acting quickly on new information received by the Transit Police and moving forward in the interest of justice.”

Nearly a full year after David’s total exoneration, and several years after completely exhausting his savings and bank accounts to defend false allegations in three different proceedings in three different venues, including US District Court related civil suits, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District Massachusetts have improbably and unusually indicted him on the same exact core allegations about which the Suffolk County DA, after four years of scrutiny, definitively stated could no longer be proven. This incredible turn of events occurred in the wake of a scathing report from the Office of the US Inspector General’s Office (IGO) suggesting a possible attempt by disgraced former US Attorney Rachel Rollins to potentially interfere in the highly contested Suffolk County DA’s race between her clear candidate of preference, Ricardo Arroyo, and then-acting DA Hayden. It would seem that release of the IGO’s report, which included allegations of Hatch Act violations by Rollins, as well as multiple text exchanges between her and Arroyo regarding the then-ongoing DA campaign, as well references to her public comments about ongoing criminal investigation (s) against members of the TPD which David’s lawyers believe could have been viewed as a violation of Fed Rule Crim P. 6 (e) which governs Grand Jury Secrecy, could have led to her abrupt unprecedented resignation as US Attorney shortly after the publication of the IGO’s final findings and conclusions.

In view of the above-mentioned publicly reported references to a presumably secret Grand Jury investigation by Rollins, the fact she would appear to have had a motivation to help Arroyo and embarrass Hayden while she was still US Attorney, and in light of the TPD’s open support of Rollins and Arroyo, and the TPD command’s acerbic and non-professional public criticisms of Hayden, these new (old) charges do not appear to be coincidental. The fact that no one in the TPD chain of command below him (including the patrolman who committed, and admitted to, the underlying assault) and no one in the command staff above him, was also indicted, makes it difficult to not conclude that David is being targeted as a whistleblower, scapegoated, and being used as a “political pawn” by Rollins’ former office, perhaps to protect their own reputation, if not hers.  

Whatever the rationale for this unjust, unnecessary, and highly unusual in light of the Suffolk County DA’s prior conclusion that the evidence does not support his continued prosecution, David and his family must once again step forward to defend his honor, impeccable reputation, as well as his liberty and personal freedom—but this time, with all their personal financial resources having been drained and depleted from the multiple previous battles the TPD have instigated or necessitated in the courts. Representation in federal court is extremely expensive, far more so than in state superior court (which is not cheap), especially for the hiring of a highly experienced lawyer and law firm. Nonetheless, David must fight these false allegations to the bitter end. Despite his “win” and vindication in state court, he has no choice, nor any other recourse, but to turn to friends and the public to help raise sufficient funding to defend his good name, rights, liberty, and impeccable reputation once again, this time in U.S. Federal Court. This page was set up to ask you to support this decent and honorable man (and Veteran), as well as his wife and three young daughters, however you might be able with necessary legal expenses.