The district attorney elected not to seek an indictment in a grand jury, which would have been the common practice, according to trial attorneys who reviewed and analyzed the case for the Times.
Blodgett’s spokesman Steve O’Connell yesterday said the office reasoned that the grand jury was not appropriate and a brief was not necessary. Hartigan did present an oral argument. “We are not appealing because we do not believe we would prevail.” O’Connell added. On Oct. 20, District Court Judge Joseph Jennings granted the defense motion to dismiss the charges against Goldin. His lawyer Bradford Keene filed an intricate, 15-page defense brief that the judge found convincing. Jennings agreed with Keene’s argument that what Goldin was doing was practicing his First Amendment right to advocate for the public by seeking “linkage” payments to mitigate the harmful effects of the developments he chose to challenge — Park’s Gloucester Crossing shopping center off the Route 128 extension and McNiff’s condo development on the site of the former Cape Ann Anchor and Forge Co.