A judge presiding in Caccaviello’s home court has recently gone on the record about mistrusting the DA’s representations in a troubled murder prosecution.
Superior Court Judge John Agostini had ruled that federal law trumps state law in such cases and applied eminent domain, allowing Tennessee Gas to have the easement in Otis State Forest, despite Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution, that protects old-growth forests from development.
Massachusetts is unique among 50 states in that it creates a special conservation protection for land … some areas are so important that they have to be protected by the Legislature.
--- Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General Matthew Ireland
Mass Audubon also argued that “the proposed pipeline would permanently degrade and fragment” Spectacle Pond Farm, an integral component of the Otis State Forest.
