Politics & Government

Baker Cites Cotuit Crash That Killed Marine In Filing Bail Bill

Kevin Quinn was killed when he was struck head-on by a driver who was awaiting charges in a drunken driving case and a 2015 shooting.

COTUIT, MA – Gov. Charlie Baker cited the death of a Marine from Cape Cod in a head-on crash last summer while refiling a bail and pretrial reform bill this week. Baker filed a similar bail in September following multiple police shootings, but it did not come to a vote as legislative sessions were ending for the year.

The bill would allow judges to weigh more than just the charges before them when considering a defendant's release and let police keep people in custody without waiting for a warrant if they were found to be in violation of their orders of release. It also would expand the number of offenses for which a suspect could be held as a danger and allow for appeals of bail decisions.

Baker brought up the July 28 crash that killed 32-year-old Kevin Quinn, a veteran from Mashpee who was on his way home from visiting his wife and newborn daughter in the hospital. The other driver, 22-year-old Mickey Rivera, was fleeing police at the time of the crash and had been released on his own recognizance a month earlier on a drunken driving charge in Barnstable.

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Rivera was already out on bail in connection with a 2015 shooting. Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe later said his office made a mistake letting Rivera go in the drunken driving case.

Baker said he believes Rivera would have qualified for a dangerousness hearing under his bill, according to the Cape Cod Times.

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Rivera and his passenger, 24-year-old Jocelyn Goyette, were also killed in the crash.


Previously: DA Says Office Made A Mistake Letting Driver In Cotuit Crash Go

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