Retired Judge Faces Misconduct Charges for Jailing a Public Defender for Five Hours; Transcript Shows Him Citing a Call From the Chief Justice

The Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct has filed formal misconduct charges with the Supreme Judicial Court against retired District Court Judge Franco J. GoBourne over his decision to hold a public defender in contempt and have him handcuffed, shackled and locked in a courthouse holding cell for about five hours, according to the commission and the charging document.

The commission announced the filing Thursday, Oct. 22, and asked the SJC to appoint a hearing officer to preside over a public hearing. The hearing is to be scheduled within 30 to 60 days after that appointment under state law and commission rules, the commission said.

The charges allege that GoBourne engaged in "willful judicial misconduct that brought the judicial office into disrepute, that was prejudicial to the administration of justice, and that was unbecoming of a judicial officer," and that he violated five rules of the Code of Judicial Conduct, including the requirement that judges be "patient, dignified, and courteous" to lawyers and others in court. They are allegations, and GoBourne has not been found to have committed misconduct.

According to the charging document, which is signed by commission chair Bruce Herring and dated Sept. 9, GoBourne was appointed a circuit justice of the District Court in 2010 and served until he retired in September 2025. The complaint was filed with the commission on June 6, 2025. The commission issued a Statement of Allegations on July 16, 2026, which GoBourne received on July 27, the document says. He "did not submit a written response to the Statement of Allegations or file a written request for a personal appearance before the Commission," according to the charges.

The incident took place March 25, 2025, in Fall River District Court, during a hearing in Commonwealth v. Robson Martins DaSilva. Committee for Public Counsel Services attorney Nicholas Athanassiou told the judge he had recently learned of potentially exculpatory evidence, according to the charges. When GoBourne asked when he learned of it, Athanassiou turned to review his file on a desk behind him and took a few steps toward it.

"Counsel, stop pacing. Face the --" GoBourne said, according to a certified transcript attached to the charges. "Before you come out with more words, Counsel, you better be careful what you say." Athanassiou said, "Your Honor, my client has a right to be heard." The two then spoke over each other, and the commission alleges that Athanassiou's "tone remained polite and professional throughout." GoBourne then said, "I'm asking you to be quiet. And I'm asking you to face the court. Take him into custody. Take him into custody. I find you in contempt of court, Counsel." The whole exchange lasted about three minutes, according to the commission.

Court officers handcuffed Athanassiou, took his personal items, placed him in leg restraints and locked him in a holding cell, the charges say, describing those steps as standard Trial Court practice after a judge orders a person into custody.

The commission alleges GoBourne punished Athanassiou for criminal contempt summarily "despite the absence of any factual basis" under Rule 43(a) of the Rules of Criminal Procedure that summary punishment was necessary to maintain order. It also alleges he never gave Athanassiou notice of contempt charges, as Rule 43(b)(1) requires, and never found that detaining him was necessary to keep order or to ensure his appearance at a hearing, as Rule 43(b)(2) requires.

At about noon, another CPCS attorney, Benjamin Evans, asked to be heard on Athanassiou's detention. "Despite knowing that he had no further cases before him to be heard at that time," GoBourne refused and said he would consider the request at 2 p.m., the commission alleges. He recessed and did not return to the courtroom until about 2:42 p.m.

The transcript of that afternoon hearing shows GoBourne defending his decision before reversing it. "His attitude, his facial expressions, and his body expressions, and his rec- recalcitrance is contemptuous," he said. "I'll be honest with you, I -- I got a call from the Chief Justice, and he was telling me you don't have it. But when you read the -- the when I read the -- the rules and what could be considered contempt, I feel that his -- his -- his actions did fall as contemptuous."

"Now I will admit maybe I should have been more -- a little bit more patient," GoBourne said, according to the transcript. "But it's not the first time that Counsel has acted this way to me or to others, okay?" He told Athanassiou he had practiced with the public defender agency for a long time, said "you have let me down," and added, "I'll drop the contempt. Release him." The proceedings adjourned at 2:48 p.m., according to the transcript.

In a statement Oct. 22, Arnie Lucinda Stewart, deputy chief counsel of CPCS's Public Defender Division, said the agency was "grateful that the Commission on Judicial Conduct took these allegations seriously," Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly reported. "Every lawyer in that courtroom, and every person waiting for their case to be called, witnessed the consequences a defense attorney can face simply for insisting to be heard," Stewart said. "Judges wield immense power, and that power cannot go unchecked when it is abused."

Under the commission's rules, GoBourne has 10 days after service of the formal charges to file a written response setting out any denials or defenses, the charging document says.