Last modified: Sunday, January 13, 2008 1:11 AM EST DA Sutter defends tough stance BY DAVID LINTON / SUN CHRONICLE STAFF NEW BEDFORD In the corner office of Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter, there is a famous photograph behind his desk of John F. Kennedy talking to his brother, Robert, during the 1960 Democratic convention. "I look up to them greatly. I try to follow a lot of what they stood for," Sutter said in a recent interview. John F. Kennedy became president and, Sutter said, was "cool under pressure" during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Sutter said he admires Robert Kennedy for his "passionate idealism" and aggressiveness. Sutter, 55, a former supervising prosecutor in Attleboro District Court who later went on to prosecute serious cases in superior court, captured the corner office in a stunning upset victory in 2006 over 16-year incumbent Paul Walsh Jr. During his first year as the county's top law-enforcement official, Sutter has tried to live up to both his idols by enacting a series of initiatives aimed at cracking down on gang violence, illegal gun use and drug dealers. He has used the state's dangerousness statute, passed initially to crack down on domestic violence, to lock up drug dealers caught with what Sutter refers to as the "toxic combination" of drugs and guns. Last summer, when a judge in Attleboro District Court declined to consider locking up an alleged cocaine trafficker caught with a gun, Sutter came to Attleboro to argue the case himself. When Sutter was denied, he quickly sought a grand jury indictment and succeeded in getting the man locked up under the dangerousness statute in superior court. By the end of December, Sutter succeeded in 62 of 80 petitions for dangerousness hearings involving defendants caught with illegal firearms and drugs or committing serious crimes. The first case, involving a Fall River man who hid a high-capacity firearm in a little girl's bedroom, went all the way to the state Supreme Judicial Court, where a single justice ruled in Sutter's favor. In another case, a judge denied the defendant's appeal without a hearing. "Overall, it's been a tremendous success in the courtroom and outside the courtroom," Sutter said. The district attorney said that since he took office, there have been fewer incidents of homicides and gun violence in New Bedford and Fall River, the county's largest cities, which have been gripped by gang violence. Sutter said the downturn has been due to a combination of his policy of using the dangerousness statute and initiatives by mayors and police chiefs in those cities. Some defense lawyers say Sutter has used the statute to gain publicity, and that it benefits them because they get an early crack at the evidence the prosecution has. Sutter admitted that the policy puts pressure on his staff because they must be ready for trial in 90 days. But Sutter said his staff has been ready for trial, and any publicity has helped get the word out on the street, and the perpetrators off them. "I think the message is out there that if you are caught anytime with an illegal gun, you are not going to get out," Sutter said. Aside from action on the streets, Sutter has gone to the Statehouse, where he has filed two pieces of legislation aimed at creating new laws against the use of guns in the commission of crimes and increasing the penalties. Bills to create new laws - assault and battery with a gun and attempted assault and battery with a gun - are pending in the Judiciary Committee, Sutter said. Anyone convicted of assault and battery with a gun will face a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum term of life. Anyone convicted of attempted assault and battery with a gun faces the same mandatory minimum sentence and a maximum of 20 years. Sutter said he is hoping for success because most of the gun crimes are being committed by young men and teenagers. Because they are often too young to have a lengthy criminal history, state sentencing guidelines call for prison terms of only three years to 3 years, Sutter said. "That's ridiculous," Sutter said. "Three to four years for shooting another person? What kind of message is that?" Sutter also has fostered a relationship with the U.S. Attorney's office, creating a major violators unit with the help of a grant to crack down on gangs and major drugs dealers. He also authorized the county's first wiretapping investigation in 17 years, which led to the arrest of 25 people in the southern end of the county. The use of wiretaps was a major issue in the campaign. During the campaign, he also vowed to take a new look at unsolved homicides, including the infamous New Bedford highway murder cases of the late 1980s, whose victims were women tied to the drug and prostitution trade. Sutter said a roomful of evidence in the unsolved murders has been sent to the state police laboratory for a new round of DNA testing using advances in forensic science. "I'm hopeful for a break, but I don't want to hold out false hope for the families of the victims. I don't want to make any promises I can't keep," Sutter said. Just recently, in other cold cases, prosecutors made an arrest in a 1985 Acushnet murder, a 2004 Fall River murder and a 2005 New Bedford killing. Sutter said his top assistants have whittled down a case backlog in superior court from 587 cases when he took office to a manageable level of about 380 cases. Sutter said he has a list of priorities for the new year, including putting more concentration into the major violators unit to crank up what he called "intelligence sharing" among law enforcement to fight crime. "We don't want to be reacting to these individuals," Sutter said, "We want to go after these individuals." In addition, Sutter said he wants to get tougher on people who subscribe to the "stop-snitching" culture and prosecute people who lie to law enforcement or the grand jury. Law enforcement, mostly in Boston, has been stymied in solving violent crime because some potential witnesses either lie to investigators or are reluctant to come forward. Courts in the state have prohibited people from entering courts with "Stop Snitching" T-shirts, which authorities say are worn to intimidate people. "It's a problem. It's a problem in the county. It's a problem in the state. It's a problem in the nation," Sutter said. Last week, New Bedford police arrested potential witnesses who allegedly lied to police investigating the murder of a teenager. "I'm fed up with those who mislead us or lie to us," Sutter said. Sutter said he also wants to improve on methods to help investigators in child abuse cases, and to create uniform policies in district courts where police prosecutors work with assistant district attorneys. To foster better ties with local communities, Sutter instituted a residency rule requiring prosecutors in his office to live in the county. They also must volunteer outside work in a social service or civic agency 26 hours a year. Besides meetings in his office and the occasional court appearance, Sutter also finds time to speak to various civic groups and community agencies. On the day The Sun Chronicle visited, Sutter was off to the New Bedford Whaling Museum for the 12th annual reading marathon of Herman Melville's classic novel "Moby Dick." In the next year, Sutter hopes to get out of his office more and visit all of the district courts in the county. He plans on giving an annual address about plans for his office at different district courts beginning in March in New Bedford. "We're pleased with our successes," Sutter said, "but there is more work to be done." DAVID LINTON can be reached at 508-236-0428 or at dlinton@thesunchronicle.com.