GREENFIELD — The chief trial counsel for the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office has been sworn in as a superior court judge.
Jeremy Bucci took the oath of office at the State House on Nov. 2 and will reportedly undergo at least a couple weeks of training before donning the black robe. He took his job with the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office in 2011 and had previously worked in the appellate unit for the Suffolk County DA’s office.
Laurie Loisel, spokesperson for the DA’s office, said Bucci is not expected to speak with the news media about his appointment for another few weeks, but District Attorney David Sullivan sang the new judge’s praises.
“I’m as proud as anybody can be. He’s just a super person and attorney,” Sullivan said. “And I can’t really think of anyone better to be a judge from Franklin County. He’s done it all.”
Mary Hurley, the Governor’s Council member who administered Bucci’s oath of office, said the brief ceremony took place on the State House balcony overlooking Boston Common. She said Bucci’s father and 10-year-old son were in attendance, as was council member Joseph Ferreira.
“It was very nice,” said Hurley, who remains on the Governor’s Council until Jan. 1.
Hurley explained Bucci, 46, will most likely be assigned to Hampden County.
“Because they’re not going to assign him to Hampshire County, where he was a prosecutor,” she said, “to avoid conflicts (of interest).”
Hurley said the new judge will probably be sent to different courts for training purposes over the next six months or so.
Hurley, a district court judge until 2014, explained the path to a judgeship is a strenuous one. She said it starts with a 40-page application reviewed by a 21-person judicial nominating committee, which conducts an in-person interview with the best candidates. Hurley said the governor and lieutenant governor then agree they are satisfied with a nominee and recommend the person to the Joint Bar Committee, an independent and nonpartisan entity that consists of two dozen attorneys from across the state, including three members each of the Massachusetts and Boston bar associations.
The State Police then conduct a background check on a nominee before the Governor’s Council holds a hearing and a vote on the nominee.
Bucci, who lives in Deerfield, grew up in Erving and graduated from Turners Falls High School before attending the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Suffolk University Law School.
“He is really the American dream, in my mind,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said Bucci’s responsibilities will be parsed out to other assistant district attorneys until a new one is hired.
Bucci was starting his eighth day on the job as an appellate assistant district attorney in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in Boston when the World Trade Center was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. He hadn’t yet received his first paycheck and was sitting in on a session of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court when a court officer gave a message to Chief Justice Margaret Marshall, who announced the United States was under attack and asked everyone to immediately evacuate the courthouse.
Bucci once said in an interview that he exited the building and walked 4 miles to his Brookline apartment.
“I rejoiced every time there was a conviction of one of those (terrorists),” he said last year, “and I loved when they were brought into the criminal justice system and we showed a public trial, where the evidence was laid out for the public to see, and they were tried.”
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or
413-930-4120.