Friday, February 7, 2014

Black Hispanic crime in Massachusetts: Jailed state Rep. Carlos Henriquez has been expelled from the House by a 146-5 vote

The overwhelming move to kick him out and end his $60,000 annual pay came after he pleaded to keep his job during the historic State House hearing. His former colleagues weren't swayed and a call for a “censure” rather than expulsion was shot down 143-10. Henriquez has continued to insist he is innocent of holding down and punching a then-girlfriend after she wouldn’t have sex with him in July 2012. He has been found guilty and sentenced to six months in the Middlesex County House of Corrections in Billerica. Speaker of the House Robert A. DeLeo, speaking in a statement following the expulsion vote, defended the committee's probe into the assault case as an independent investigation which included reviewing 11 police reports, 78 exhibits and nearly 1,000 pages of trial testimony. The House, DeLeo said, "found that a representative could not serve as a member while incarcerated in jail after being convicted of two charges of a serious nature. With that vote completed, the House will now move forward to address the budget, gun safety, domestic violence and other important legislative matters." State Rep. Christopher Fallon of Malden, in one of most impassioned speeches, said that the House has to show zero tolerance for abuse against women. He urged the vote on expulsion, saying from his seat: "We don't have a choice today. ... This body is legally and morally responsible" to uphold laws. Earlier, the NAACP asked lawmakers to sit out the vote on the expulsion of Henriquez, a member of the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus and of the advocacy organization. “The NAACP, New England Area Conference (NEAC), respectfully requests that the Massachusetts House of Representatives abstain from voting in the matter of the expulsion of Representative Carlos Henriquez, expected to come before the House today,” the organization said in a letter. “In the alternative, Members of the House are asked to vote against the expulsion of their colleague.”

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