Kevin Quinn survived two combat tours in Afghanistan, but he couldn’t survive the activist liberal judges in Massachusetts.
The 32-year-old Marine Corps veteran was killed in a head-on collision early Saturday morning. He was returning to his home in Mashpee after visiting his wife, Kara, and newborn baby girl, Logan Audrey, at the Cape Cod hospital. Logan was their first child. There is a heart-warming picture of Quinn, the proud father, holding his infant girl in his big, muscular arms, his face beaming with pride and joy. Kara and Logan were to be driven home the next day. Now, Kara will never see her husband again; Logan will never know her father; and Quinn’s parents will never see their son.
Yet, the real tragedy is that none of this need have happened. Quinn is dead today for one simple reason: An arrogant liberal judge (again) put the interests of a violent career criminal above those of law-abiding, decent citizens. It is a familiar pattern—activist judges coddling dangerous criminals, leading to innocent people being killed. Whether it is police officers, such as Michael Chesna, Sean Gannon and Eugene Cole, or military veterans like Quinn, the bodies are piling up.
The driver, Mickey Rivera, a 22-year-old gangbanger, should never have been out on the streets. In March 2015, he was charged with armed assault with intent to rob, attempted armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and misleading police. Moreover, in a separate case Rivera was also charged with armed and masked home invasion, armed assault, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He was allegedly involved in the brutal stabbing of two women in Taunton. Earlier this year, he was arrested for driving drunk. In short, Rivera was a thug with a long rap sheet—a clear menace to the public.
His bail, however, was reduced from $35,000 to $1,000. The reason: A Supreme Judicial Court ruling urged lower court judges to set bail on the ability to pay, not on the nature of the crime or the defendant’s criminal history. In other words, Massachusetts’ judiciary has been completely corrupted and politicized. Rivera’s bail was dramatically lowered because he didn’t have a job or a steady stream of income, thereby rewarding him for being a gangbanger. Superior Court Judge Thomas McGuire, a liberal hack appointed by Gov. Deval Patrick in 2009, is known for defending career criminals, saying they deserve our “empathy.”
This is not only false, but perverse. McGuire has blood on his hands. He needs to be held accountable and responsible for his outrageous, reckless decision. By enabling a violent, evil thug such as Rivera to be released back into the public, McGuire deliberately endangered the safety and security of innocent citizens. Rivera was being chased by police that fateful night because he was speeding and driving erratically (most likely, drunk), smashing into Quinn’s SUV. This simple fact cannot be denied: Had McGuire not drastically reduced Rivera’s bail, Quinn would be alive today. For nearly three years, Rivera was behind bars awaiting trial. Instead of protecting public safety, McGuire sided with Rivera. This sick, twisted judge must face consequences—or the death toll will continue.
The problem in Massachusetts is judicial supremacy, the radical leftist belief that judges are above the law and immune from criticism. This is the basis of the Democrats’ power. As long as activist judges are beyond the reach of voters, then liberals can continue to maintain their rule and advance their progressive agenda—open borders, illegal immigration, sanctuary cities, climate change, gun control, abortion, same-sex marriage, transgenderism, economic collectivism and expanding the rights of criminals. That countless innocent people are being slaughtered means nothing to them. Quinn is simply collateral damage as the left marches toward its socialist utopia.
Which begs the question: What is to be done? I believe judges should be elected. At a minimum, they should be required to undergo regular judicial review. This, however, is not realistic in the People’s Republic of Marxichusetts. The political and media class are determined to defend judicial tyranny at all costs. But there is one thing citizens can do: vote. Gov. Charlie Baker is a Democrat posing as a Republican. He has done nothing—not even a scintilla—to challenge, never mind roll back the state’s liberal establishment. He has meekly criticized bad judges, such as Timothy Feeley. Yet, Baker will not even call for Feeley’s impeachment. Just as he will not demand McGuire be removed from the bench.
Conservatives—and decent people across the Commonwealth—need to form a serious, viable political resistance. It’s time to let Baker know that his treacherous RINO ways are no longer acceptable. We need to send a message. We need to vote against him in the GOP gubernatorial primary on Sept. 4. Whatever your feelings about Scott Lovely—love him or hate him—a vote against Baker will shake the decrepit Republican establishment to its very foundations. Only when conservatives capture the state GOP can any kind of vocal, principled and real opposition emerge. And then the radical liberal judiciary can be finally put on public trial. The issue of reckless activist judges—and what to do about them—can be put to the voters. Sadly, until then, many more brave, decent and innocent people will have to die.
Kevin Quinn and his family deserved better. We all do.
-Jeffrey T. Kuhner is host of “The Kuhner Report” on WRKO AM-680 in Boston. He can be reached at: jeffreykuhner@iheartmedia.com