Editorial: Herald Endorses Solet for Middlesex DA

What did you know and when did you know it? That’s a question usually put to criminal defendants and key players in a scandal, not the District Attorney’s office itself.

And it’s the answer to that question that casts serious shade on Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, running for reelection in the Sept. 1 primary.

State Police Sgt. Scott Quigley, then embedded with the Middlesex DA’s office, crashed his cruiser into a wheelchair van in December 2023, injuring a man inside who died at the hospital a month later. Quigley, now suspended, initially received only a written warning from another state trooper after killing the disabled man.

Further details trickled out. A separate murder trial in Lowell revealed that Quigley may have been drunk at the time of the accident.

Then DA Ryan dropped a bombshell in a court filing this year: she admitted that “a non-attorney employee voluntarily disclosed that sometime during the late spring or early summer of 2024, State Police Lt. Anthony Delucia mentioned that he had heard that Sgt. [Scott] Quigley’s blood alcohol content was a .11 and that he (Sgt. Quigley) had been at ‘Teresa’s’ with another trooper prior to the crash,” the filing states.

Teresa’s is a bar near the Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn.

Ryan claims she knew nothing about Quigley’s BAC for two-plus years. Doesn’t matter. Someone in her office knew. That’s under her watch. That lapse was seemingly OK in her office’s culture.

The DA’s office is supposed to be on the side of truth and a champion for discovering the facts. How it acted in the Quigley case tells a different story. Ultimately, a District Attorney should be the voice for the victims of crime, such as Lynn Schettino, the mother of Angelo Schettino, the 37-year-old disabled man killed after Quigley crashed his police cruiser into a transport van carrying Schettino.

Multiple agencies, including the State Police and the Suffolk County DA are now investigating the accident. It should never have come to this.

It all has a bearing on Ryan’s reelection, at least it should. Middlesex residents deserve transparency and accountability from their District Attorney’s office.

Which brings us to David Solet, Ryan’s opponent in the primary. The Boston Bar Association outlined his career: From 2019-2025, Solet served as the Chief of the Cold Case Homicide Unit of the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office. He previously served as the Chief of the MDAO’s Cyber Protection Unit, and as the office’s General Counsel. He has prosecuted offenders in cases involving murder, child exploitation, narcotics trafficking, public corruption, and organized crime.

Solet’s focus on public safety checks a huge box for Massachusetts. We need more of this, and we need the kind of dogged dedication to helping victims of crime that the Cold Case Homicide Unit leader exemplifies.

The Middlesex DA’s office should never be on the receiving end of a “gotcha” moment. The DA should foster a culture of accountability and a never-ending resolve to dig for the truth to bring justice to victims of crime and bolster community safety.

The Boston Herald endorses David Solet for Middlesex District Attorney.