High court rules in favor of Somali man facing deportation from Boston

Massachusetts’ high court has ruled in favor of a Somali man in a case that tested efforts by Boston’s top prosecutor to protect immigrants from being deported for non-violent crimes.

Supreme Judicial Court Justice David Lowy ruled Tuesday that a lower court judge must honor Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins’ decision to drop a misdemeanor larceny charge against 28-year-old Osman Bilal.

Rollins said Bilal, who pleaded guilty and served a year of probation nearly a decade ago, had paid his debt to society and shouldn’t be punished further.

“When an individual has worked so hard to take accountability for their actions and turned their life around, I will not sit idly by when cruel and extreme collateral consequences impede their ability to move beyond their past,” Rollins said in a statement. “No one is their worst moment.”

Bilal, whose family had arrived in Massachusetts as refugees in 2007, said he was “speechless” in a statement provided by his lawyer.

“This has been a long and tortured road for Mr. Bilal and there is now finality, which also includes justice,” Kelly Cusack, his lawyer, added.

Rollins’ office had recently sought and received a new trial for Bilal, then promptly dropped the charges, which stemmed from his 2011 arrest for stealing jewelry from a Boston street vendor. The legal maneuver was meant to help Bilal renew his green card and avoid deportation.

But Boston Municipal Judge Michael Coyne reversed his order granting the new trial and reinstated Bilal’s conviction just days after initially ruling on the case.

Coyne complained that Bilal’s lawyers and Rollins’ office had “intentionally misled” the court. Rollins petitioned the high court, arguing that Coyne overstepped his authority in reversing the decision.