Special Master to Investigate Claims of a Courthouse Romance in New Bedford

A justice from Massachusetts’ highest court has appointed a special master to investigate claims that a New Bedford judge carried on a romance with a prosecutor while ruling on her cases.

The allegations were first circulated in anonymous letters that swept through the New Bedford District Court in the fall of 2023, offering salacious details about alleged trysts in and around the courthouse. Some of the letters claimed Judge Douglas Darnbrough showed favoritism to the prosecutor in court and assigned himself to oversee more of her cases.

Within days of the letters surfacing, the Massachusetts Trial Court reassigned Darnbrough to another courthouse. He resigned shortly after, citing health concerns in his resignation letter to the governor. He has since denied any inappropriate relationship occurred.

The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office continues to employ the prosecutor, Karlyn Butler, and maintains the allegations are baseless claims circulated by an unnamed harasser with a “vendetta” against the office.

In court filings, the D.A.’s office said the Massachusetts Trial Court investigated the allegations and “found no evidence of a relationship between our employee and the judge.” A spokesperson for the trial court declined to comment on the investigation or confirm its findings. A lower court judge, David Frank, shut down further inquiries into the scope and findings of the investigation last year.

But the latest order from Supreme Judicial Court Justice Serge Georges, Jr. effectively reopens the matter, empowering a special master to review records from the classified investigation by the Massachusetts Trial Court and gather new evidence.

Ernest Sarason, a retired judge appointed as the case’s special master, will now lead an investigation where he has the power to interview witnesses under oath and subpoena new records that could shed light on the credibility of the allegations. Sarason is ordered to file a report with Georges within 45 days of concluding his inquiry. The order said the report will remain impounded “unless otherwise ordered by the court.”

The order comes in response to an appeal filed by a New Bedford man who was convicted of indecent assault on a child in a trial where Darnbrough served as the judge and Butler served as the prosecutor. The appellant, Gerson Pascual-Santana, is currently serving a 3.5-year jail sentence at the Bristol County House of Correction. He was convicted in February 2023.

In a brief interview, Pascual-Santana’s attorney, James McKenna, said Georges “did a great thing” by appointing a special master.

“He provided for a way we can get to the truth,” McKenna said.

The outcome of the special master’s inquiry could have a big impact in the region’s courts and jails. Massachusetts’ public defender agency, the Committee for Public Counsel Services, estimates that Darnbrough and Butler both worked on about 3,700 criminal cases. Some of those cases could be appealed if the allegations of an inappropriate relationship are confirmed.

A spokesperson for the Bristol County District Attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment.