Newton Mayor Seeks to Avoid Taking the Stand in Suit Against City

Mayor Setti Warren has been called to testify in a suit against the city over an alleged wrongful firing of a police department secretary, but the mayor has other ideas.

The dispute is part of a convoluted set of circumstances involving Police Chief Matthew Cummings - who was fired by the mayor - and the former secretary filing the suit, Jeanne Sweeney Mooney, who was fired after being accused of stealing funds from the police department.

Mooney was acquitted of the charges of larceny over $250 recently and she contends that she was set up after she made complaints about the police chief, according to records filed in US District Court, the Boston Globe reported.

Meanwhile, Cumming’s attorneys want the mayor to testify, but Newton City Attorney Donnalyn Kahn told the Globe the request is “intended to harass and retaliate against the mayor for firing Chief Cummings,” in the fall of 2012, the Globe reported.

Cumming’s lawyer, Timothy Burke, said that the mayor should testify “if he has nothing to hide,” he told the Globe.

Mooney seeks $1.1 million in damages, and has named the city, Warren, Cummings and two other members of the Newton Police – Lt. Edward Aucoin and former co-worker in the chief’s office Vincent Nguyen - as defendants, the Globe reported.

See the whole Boston Globe article by clicking here.