GOVERNOR PATRICK APPOINTS THOMAS M. QUINN III AS ACTING BRISTOL COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY

GOVERNOR PATRICK APPOINTS THOMAS M. QUINN III AS ACTING BRISTOL COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY

Quinn brings over 16 years of experience in Bristol County DA's Office to position

BOSTON – Friday, January 2, 2015 – Governor Deval Patrick today named Bristol County First Assistant District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III as the Acting District Attorney (DA) for Bristol County.  Quinn will assume responsibility for all Bristol County DA’s office operations and fills the vacancy created by the resignation of DA Sam Sutter, who was recently elected as Mayor of Fall River and for whom Quinn served as his top ranked assistant.

“Tom brings a special depth of experience as a prosecutor in the Bristol County DA's office,” said Governor Patrick. “I am making this appointment now to assure the stability of the critical work of the office and fully respect the authority of the incoming Governor to make his own appointment in due course."

Quinn's appointment as Acting DA will be effective immediately.  An election to select the next DA will occur in November 2016, the next biennial election.

With over 16 years of experience in the Bristol County DA Office, Quinn most recently served as First Assistant DA.  As First Assistant, Quinn supervised all prosecution in Superior Court cases and helped significantly reduce the Bristol County Superior Court criminal trial backlog.  Quinn has tried well over 100 cases, including a number of murder cases, in District and Superior Courts. He also created an office-wide process for the handling of forfeiture monies received by the Bristol DA's office.

Quinn began his career in the Bristol County DA's office as an Assistant DA, and led the Office's Major Offenders Unit from 1995-1997.  In 1997, he left the Bristol County DA's office for private practice, where he helped represent indigent clients through the Committee for Public Counsel Services, before returning to the DA's Office in 2007. 

Quinn is a deeply engaged member of his local community and serves as a member of the Nativity Preparatory School, Bishop Connolly High School and Holy Name Parish advisory boards.  He has volunteered in Fall River and New Bedford schools and youth sports programs for over ten years.  In 2013, Quinn was the recipient of Fall River Diocese's Saint Thomas Moore award for his distinguished service to the law and the community.

“I am very grateful to Governor Patrick for appointing me to this important position and am humbled by the opportunity to serve the people of Bristol County in this capacity,” said Quinn. 

Quinn is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and Suffolk University Law School.  He lives with his wife, Sharon, and three children in Fall River. 

“I am very pleased with Governor Patrick's decision to appoint Tom Quinn to serve out the remainder of this term as district attorney and to serve as the acting district attorney at the start of the next term, which begins on January 7,” said Mayor Sam Sutter. “Tom Quinn, in my opinion, is the most qualified attorney to be the next district attorney of Bristol County. He has been my Co-First Assistant for the past eight years, and has been deeply involved in everything we have done for our office to become one of the statewide leaders in the various categories by which district attorney's offices are judged. Governor Patrick's choice will be met with jubilation by the 130 people working at the Bristol County District Attorney's office.  That is very important to me, because I hired every single one of them, and it is very important for the office on the eve of one of the most highly publicized trials in the country. I enthusiastically applaud Governor Patrick's choice of Tom Quinn.”