LYNN — A Lynn District Court judge has ordered the release of statements and recorded interviews by Swampscott police officers in the case against a Black Lives Matter activist arrested at a December protest in that town.
A pre-trial hearing for Ernst Jean-Jacques, also known as “Shimmy,” was held in Lynn District Court Monday morning, in which Judge Matthew Nestor made the decision about the interviews, which were conducted during an independent investigation into the arrest.
“I’m going to specifically decline to impound anything or keep anything under wraps,” Nestor said in the hearing. “It strikes me that the public is better served by having all of this aired.”
Jean-Jacques was arrested and charged with felony assault on December 12 at a pro-Trump rally in Monument Square. He was participating in a counter-protest when Donald Trump supporter Linda Greenberg, 80, threw water at him from a plastic bottle. In video taken at the scene, Jean-Jacques reaches toward Greenberg, prompting police to allege that he punched her. Jean-Jacques maintains that he simply moved to take the bottle away from Greenberg.
Last week, the report from an investigation commissioned by the Swampscott Police Department and completed by consulting firm Municipal Resources Inc. was released in heavily redacted form. The report concluded that while police had probable cause to arrest Jean-Jacques and therefore his arrest was legal, the investigation that followed was “disjointed and cursory,” and not up to police standards. The report did not find evidence of racial bias against Jean-Jacques, who is Black.
Attorney Murat Erkan, who is defending Jean-Jacques, requested the release of the materials, along with the identity of the interviewer. Assistant District Attorney Danielle Doherty-Wirwicz moved to prevent the release of the requested materials to the public, but the motion was also denied.
“Why is it OK in one police report to have it public, but in the other it’s not?” Nestor asked. “That’s what I’m missing.”
Erkan also requested that the state disclose the circumstances under which it received the investigation, which was denied as the judge did not believe it was relevant to the case.
In addition, Doherty-Wirwicz requested the ability to introduce as evidence two “prior bad acts” by Jean-Jacques at a Boston protest and earlier in the day at the December 12 Swampscott protest, but that request was denied.
The court hearing, held on Zoom, was attended by supporters of Jean-Jacques, many of whom changed their display to say “Free Shimmy” or “Black Lives Matter.”
Another pre-trial hearing for Jean-Jacques will be held on June 1.
