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Capeless Takes Oath For Third Full Term as DA
By Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
06:48PM / Tuesday, January 13, 2015
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Sheriff Thomas Bowler provided the welcoming remarks to the ceremony.

David Capeless is in his 11th year in the position.

Many law enforcement officials were on hand for the ceremony including William Blackmer, Michael Wynn, Joseph Charon and James Rathbun.

Judge Joan McMenemy, juvenile court justice, administered the oath.

The was a large crowd in attendance.


District Attorney David Capeless took the oath of office for his third full term on Tuesday.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — District Attorney David Capeless pointed to his 54 employees sitting in Berkshire Superior Court on Tuesday as to why, after 11 years, he still has a passion for his job.
 
Capeless was sworn in by Judge Joan McMenemy, Juvenile Court justice, for his third four-year term as the county's district attorney.
 
The Pittsfield native was appointed by then Gov. Mitt Romney in 2004 to succeed Gerard D. Downing, who died while in office, and won election later that year to complete Downing's term. He went on to win three more consecutive elections, two of which were unopposed.
 
"I pledge to continue to serve the public, ensuring that justice is obtained in a matter that is both fair and even-handed," Capeless told the large crowd of co-workers, former judges, area law enforcement personnel, government leaders, family and friends. 
 
He credits his staff's 21 prosecutors for successes he's had over the last decade — and asked those in attendance to lobby state legislators for more funding in order to retain them. Among his successes, he cited the evolution of the Berkshire County Drug Task Force into broader law enforcement collaboration and an array of programming his office has developed for education community outreach.
 
"When I became district attorney, I realized there was an opportunity to do more than just prosecute cases and advise our local law enforcement partners in legal issues. So, I formed a community outreach and education program to work with our schools, families and community organizations focusing on education and intervention," Capeless said.
 
The program he started has expanded to feature three full-time employees and a part-time specialist, and assistance from assistant district attorneys. The programs work in schools and community groups on preventing criminal lifestyles and mentoring students in positive ways.
 
The youth advisory board, for example, brings together juniors and seniors from area high schools to reach out to their peers about issues such as drug abuse, underage drinking and bullying. Capeless says it is a way to improve conversations between the adults in the community and students.
 
"Our strategy for long-term prevention has evolved over the past decade. We've gone from dealing with the negative to focus on the positive," Capeless said.
 
In total, Capeless says the office has made more than 300 presentations in schools to more than 5,900 people.
 
Working with Triad — senior citizen safety groups through the sheriff's office —  is another way the district attorney says he is building community relationships. 
 
Meanwhile, he boasts of continuing to build and enhance what was formed as a drug task force to what is now the Berkshire County Law Enforcement Group. That group is funded by the state and includes 39 officers from Berkshire municipalities, representatives from the state police and sheriffs' department, as well as representatives from federal agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Agency and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. 
 
The task force mostly handles large countywide cases. The officers are paid outside of their full-time roles in communities so the towns receive extra policing.
 
"This is a win-win situation for every communities in the county," he said.
 
Since 2008, the task force conducted 2,200 investigations: 81 for child pornography, 168 sexual assaults, 12 homicides, and 48 embezzlements. It has executed 665 search warrants, made 838 arrests and seized 169 illegal firearms, Capeless said.
 
Recently, the most difficult case for the group to work was a triple murder, in which Capeless won three jury trials.
 
"Investigators work tirelessly for countless of hours, conducted thousands of interviews, collected several thousand pieces of evidence and assembled a compelling case that allowed me and my staff to convince three juries beyond a reasonable doubt of the guilt of the three defendants and brought justice to the family and friends of the victims," Capeless said.
 
Prosecutors didn't have a crime scene. They didn't have a weapon. And they didn't have any forensic evidence directly linking the defendants to the murder, according to Sheriff Thomas Bowler, who opened the ceremony. Capeless said it was the work of the investigators and attorney working for him that put together the case to win three times.
 
"These officers are some of the most highly trained officials Here it the commonwealth of Massachusetts. This collaboration is unfortunately unique to Berkshire County. It should be a model across the state," Bowler said.
 
But the recent triple murder wasn't the only difficult case Capeless has had, Bowler said. He cited convictions of murderers Lewis Lent, Adam Rosier and Wayne Lo. 
 
"Your district attorney, David Capeless, has served Berkshire County honestly and honorably. He is an individual with true integrity, has compassion for every victim and a prosecutor with an incredible understanding and interpretation of the law," Bowler said. 
 
Capeless has been a prosecutor for 32 years, starting in the Middlesex district attorney's office in 1982. In 1991, he returned to his hometown — where his father Robert Capeless was once mayor and that his grandfather Matthew Capeless once represented on Beacon Hill — as first district attorney.
 
McMenemy remembered Capeless giving her one of her first cases to try in Superior Court. He peppered her with reminders and cues while the judge ran a strict and intimidating courtroom. But she learned a lot about the law and being a trial attorney, she said.
 
"As a colleague and a boss, he expects excellence form his people and that is exactly what he gets. So when I think about David Capeless as district attorney, there is so much experience there and a strong commitment to not only his family but to the office and the people of Berkshire County," McMenemy said.
 
Looking forward, Capeless says there is a heroin crisis on the county's hands. He says doctors created the problem with overprescribing pain medication and causing addiction.
 
"They also created a whole new group of people who became desperate addicts who eventually turned to much cheaper heroin. This surge in the use of heroin has caused a rise in criminal activity here and across the commonwealth — some of it violent," Capeless said.
 
He called it a "public health crisis" and says the community as a whole must "act accordingly." Capeless advocates for strengthening the prescription monitoring program, changing insurance policies to limit opioid medications and increasing insurance-covered time in rehab programs, and requiring doctors to be licensed to prescribe the pills.
 
More importantly for Capeless, he is asking the Legislature not to "weaken sanctions" on drug dealers.
 
"This crisis may have begun by overprescribing by doctors but it has been taken advantage of and exasperated by drug dealers who are anxious to make money off of the suffering of their customers," Capeless said. "Drug dealers need to be held fully accountable while we provide support to their victims, the addicts."
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