Tuesday’s hearing in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs. Aidan “Turtleboy” Kearney was a largely uneventful affair due to a combination of last-minute motions on the part of Kearney’s defense and the illness of district attorney Kenneth Mello.
Mello appeared at the hearing via Zoom and was wearing an oxygen tube to help him breathe. The District Attorney has been suffering from multiple undisclosed illnesses since earlier in the year and revealed that he was scheduled for another undisclosed surgery next month during the course of the hearing.
Kearney was represented by Attorney Tim Bradl, who accused Mello of simultaneously faking and using his illness to delay the prosecution of charges against Kearney, who is facing multiple felony counts of witness intimidation in the case.
Bradl stressed that the lack of discovery was damaging Kearney’s ability to file motions in the case, including their planned motion to dismiss the case. Countering Bradl, Mello claimed that a significant amount of discovery had already been turned over to Kearney and that he may turn copies of items Bradl already has when providing further discovery.
The District Attorney further stressed that this was not a delaying tactic, he simply did not know what Bradl claimed to have received compared to what had been previously sent to the attorney.
Mello also indicated he was seeking a TAINT Team to investigate the potential that crimes were committed in the context of Bradl and Kearney’s relationship. That investigation may result in more discovery items being turned over to Bradl.
A last-minute Rule 17 motion by the defense, seeking discovery from Kearney’s alleged victim in one of the charges, Lindsey Gaetani, was not heard due to the defense only serving the prosecution with the motion an hour before the hearing.
Reporter Grant Smith Ellis also reported that Courtney Healey, who had previous unmonitored phone conversations with Kearney on an attorney only phone line while he was in jail earlier in the year, has been hired to assist Bradl as a paralegal.
The roughly fifteen-minute hearing resulted in the Judge giving Mello a May 8, 2024, deadline to turn over outstanding discovery materials. He then set the next hearing for May 23, 2024, to discuss outstanding motions in the case.
Kearney is next due in court on Friday, April 26, 2024, for a pretrial hearing in his Abuse of a Prevention Order trial.
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