Medford Man's Arrests Raise Questions Over State's Warrant System

A Medford man was arrested in 2010 and 2011 on warrants that should not have existed, according to his attorney, and he is now taking aim at the state, claiming its warrant management system is to blame for six days of false imprisonment.

James Twohig was held by Medford Police from June 25 to 28, 2010 and again on April 22 to 25, 2011 on warrants out of Norfolk County that should not have been in the state's system, according to defense attorney Laurence Cohen.

The first arrest was the result of an outstanding warrant out of Norfolk County related to a change in Twohig's probation conditions. But that matter had been previously resolved and the warrant was not removed from the state system in a timely manner, Cohen said.

The second arrest, Cohen said, was the result of a typo. An error was made entering the social security number of a different individual, so a warrant was cast for Twohig inadvertently, Cohen said.

"I understand that errors are made periodically, but the fact that it happened twice to my client, that’s certainly something no one would want to experience," Cohen said in a phone interview Tuesday.

A warrants ends up in the state's system when a judge or court magistrate issues one, or one is requested by prosecutors, according to Trial Court spokesperson Erika Gully-Santiago. The information is entered into the system through the court clerk's office and made available to law enforcement, Gully-Santiago said in an email. The courts are looking into improving the system, Gully-Santiago said.

"If errors occur, clerks' offices do take corrective action to try to prevent future problems," she said in the email. "The courts are currently looking to implement a warrant management system that would provide better controls to prevent such errors in the future."

On both occassions Twohig was arrested, Medford police had responded to a call from Twohig's mother who was seeking help because he was exhibiting symptoms of bipolar disorder, according federal court papers filed by Cohen. Officers ran Twohig's name and found outstanding warrants each time and arrested him.

Both times, defense attorney's contacted police in an attempt to show the warrants were in error, according to Cohen. But since both arrests occurred on Friday evenings, the courts were closed and Medford Police could not check the accuracy of the warrants until they re-opened Monday.

Earlier this year Cohen directed a letter to Attorney General Martha Coakley under the Massachusetts Tort Claims Act seeking compensation for Twohig's arrests. That was sent to the state court system's legal team, Cohen said. He expects to negotiate an out-of-court settlement by the end of August.

"It’s pretty clear cut as far as the liability goes," Cohen said. "If we went to court the only question would be the damages."

City Off the Hook

Cohen previously brought two lawsuits against the City of Medford and its police department in connection to the arrests. The first, filed in Somerville District Court in 2011, was thrown out by a judge because it was not the proper venue. The second, filed in U.S. District Court in Boston in November 2011, claimed the city violated Twohig's 14th amendment rights.

The second lawsuit reached a settlement with the city in July. Under the agreement, the city will pay Twohig $2,500 and is absolved of any wrong-doing.

The city chose to make the cash settlement because proceeding toward a federal court trial would have potentially been far more costly, City Attorney Mark Rumley said.

"We would have expended a great deal more than that continuing a civil suit," Rumley said Tuesday.

The city maintains that the police officers involved were acting appropriately upon a warrant, Rumley said. And Cohen said he agrees.

"The police officers acted on a warrant that was in system," Cohen said. "What became clear was that there was an issue with the warrant management system."