Jury Trial For James Potter Delayed
James Potter, the former Bourne Select Board member who now stands accused of eight felonies including sex crimes against a minor, will not go to trial later this month as planned. The previously set start date of July 15 has been changed, due to a recent change in counsel, further delaying the proceedings. A new date for the jury trial has not yet been set.
Mr. Potter was arrested on August 11, 2022, and pled guilty to eight felony charges, including multiple counts of assault and battery on a child and rape of a child, in Falmouth District Court and was released after posting a $20,000 bail. He was indicted in Barnstable Superior Court in February 2023, entering a plea of not guilty on all charges on April 18.
A motion filed on June 21 in Barnstable Superior Court, where Mr. Potter’s jury trial will be held, asked the court to allow Assistant District Attorney Michael D. Donovan to withdraw as counsel for the commonwealth on the matter. The motion, which was reviewed by the Enterprise, states that Mr. Donovan has tendered his resignation from the Cape & Islands District Attorney’s Office “with an effective date prior to the trial date of July 15,” after accepting “a position at another agency.”
The motion, submitted by Mr. Donovan and signed by Cape District Attorney Robert J. Galibois, asked that the trial of Mr. Potter be removed from the trial list for July 15 and that a new date be scheduled.
The DA’s office has appointed Assistant District Attorney Courtney L. Scalice to serve as counsel for the commonwealth in Mr. Donovan’s stead. In the June 21 motion to the court, the commonwealth stated that Ms. Scalice “will need time to familiarize herself with the case and prepare for trial and is not available on July 15.” Additional court filings, also received on June 21, formalize Ms. Scalice’s assignment to the case.
According to court records, the commonwealth’s motions were allowed by the court on June 28, the same day that Mr. Potter’s final trial conference was set to be held. The final trial conference was not held as scheduled due to the event change. According to court documents reviewed by the Enterprise, the presiding judge, the Honorable Mark Gildea, signed off to allow the state’s motion until July 25, at which point a new pretrial hearing is set to take place.
Defense Motion Denied
Also on June 28, court records show that a motion filed by John D. Pensa, Mr. Potter’s attorney, sought to remove the defendant’s pretrial condition of release that mandated he be subject to GPS monitoring.
The full list of felony charges he faces, according to court records, is three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14, two counts of aggravated rape of a child with a 10-year age difference and three counts of rape. He pled not guilty to all charges and was released after posting a $20,000 bail on August 15, 2022. The alleged offenses occurred during the years 2009, 2015 and 2022.
When initially arraigned in Falmouth District Court in August 2022, Mr. Potter’s conditions of release stipulated, among other things, that be subject to GPS monitoring and comply with exclusion zones including the victims’ schools, homes, and workplaces. Mr. Potter also surrendered his passport and was ordered to not leave the state unless it was work-related and permitted by the court.
In the defense’s motion to remove the GPS monitoring condition of release, Mr. Pensa argues that the delay in proceedings due to the change in counsel subjects Mr. Potter to several more months of restrictive GPS monitoring. Mr. Potter has been “in full compliance” with the terms of his release since August 2022, the motion says, but has since “caused ongoing stress and anxiety” because of workday interruptions at his new place of work as an architect/consultant.
“Throughout the pendency of his new employment, [Mr. Potter] continued to have issues with his GPS monitoring device losing service while he is inside these hospitals,” the motion reads, “which has consistently been disrupting the workday by forcing him to remove himself from the building for the GPS monitor to regain its service.”
The stress and anxiety, the motion says, is due to “fear of violating his conditions of release, while he is actually remaining in compliance.” Considering the change in circumstances, the impacts, his continued compliance and the fact that “he has no criminal history whatsoever in the Commonwealth or any other state other than this case,” the defense asked that the court remove the GPS monitoring condition of Mr. Potter’s pretrial release.
The defense’s motion was denied that same day by the court without prejudice following a hearing, according to court records.
Mr. Potter served for a number of years on several town boards and committees in Bourne. He was elected to the select board in 2018 and chaired both the board of sewer commissioners and the school building committee, which oversaw construction of the new Bourne Intermediate School. Mr. Potter also helped found and served on the Bourne Community Engagement Committee. Prior to moving to Bourne, he served as a selectman in the Town of Wareham.