In July 2018, an arrestee at Ashmont Station in Boston was struck by an MBTA Transit officer. Sergeant David Finnerty was not even present when the force occurred. His involvement arose only afterward, when he supervised the paperwork as duty commander. Far from hiding misconduct, Finnerty actually reported his concerns of excessive force to a deputy chief and to Professional Standards — a report that triggered the very investigation into the incident.  

Yet in 2019, Suffolk County’s progressive district attorney, Rachael Rollins, charged Finnerty criminally. Her own successor, Kevin Hayden, reviewed the evidence in 2022 and dismissed the case outright “in the interest of justice,” concluding that computer records proved Finnerty was not the source of false statements. Hayden went further, publicly stating that “to move forward with the case would have been prosecutorial misconduct.”【Boston Globe, Oct. 31, 2022】 That should have been the end of the matter.

But it wasn’t. After Rollins left the DA’s office and was appointed by President Biden as the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, she revived the case at the federal level. In 2023, her office indicted Finnerty under an obscure “false documents” statute, attempting to reframe routine supervisory actions into federal felonies. Despite thin evidence and the prior state dismissal, federal prosecutors pushed forward. In May 2025, Finnerty was convicted on one count, even though the jury acquitted him on the other.

This case should never have been brought. The facts show Finnerty raised the alarm about excessive force — the opposite of a cover-up. The state system recognized the truth and dismissed. But federal prosecutors, determined to score political points, refused to let go. This is prosecution by vendetta, not prosecution by evidence.

David Finnerty is a career officer with more than two decades of service to the MBTA Transit Police. He rose to sergeant, supervised platoons, and earned commendations for leadership and professionalism. He previously served his country in the United States Coast Guard. He is a husband and father of three young daughters. His career and his reputation have been shattered, not by misconduct, but by politics.

This is another outrageous miscarriage of justice. Finnerty’s conviction must be overturned, and his honor restored.