A new clerk magistrate is about to lead the Edgartown courthouse, and he will be the first person to hold the position who isn’t an Islander.
In Boston, the Massachusetts Governor’s Council voted 6-0 on Wednesday, April 1, to approve Robert E. Manning’s nomination as the next clerk magistrate of Edgartown District Court. He was nominated by Gov. Healey on March 25.
“He’s going to do a great job on Martha’s Vineyard for us,” said Joseph Ferreira, councilor of the district that includes Martha’s Vineyard.
Manning has served as first assistant clerk magistrate in the Barnstable Superior Court since 2019. Between 2013 and 2019, Manning was a public defender through the Committee for Public Counsel Services. He maintained a private legal practice before joining the committee. Manning holds a bachelor of arts from Lewis & Clark College, and a juris doctorate from Southern New England School of Law, where he studied at night while working a full-time job. After passing the bar exam, he spent three years in the Cape & Islands District Attorney’s Office as an assistant district attorney, and covered cases from Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
The local district attorney’s office is where Manning learned the importance of the district court, which he said is where most people first encounter the court system.
“Often people come to the district court when they [are] in crisis, whether it is a mental health crisis, a housing crisis, or a criminal crisis,” Manning said. “Everyone who steps through … the doors of the district court should be treated with dignity and respect.”
Manning underscored his desire to help indigent populations, and said he was able to better connect with these individuals due to the mental health training he received and experience from covering court-appointed juvenile cases on the Vineyard.
While Manning never visited the Vineyard before becoming an assistant district attorney, he highlighted how many year-round residents face struggles in seasonal communities, and plans to “identify community resources that will best serve everyone who comes into the district court” in Edgartown. Manning is personally aware of issues faced in towns that rely on summer economies; he grew up in Hyannis, and currently lives in North Falmouth.
The clerk magistrate’s department acts like a front desk of Edgartown District Court, and is one of the first spots a person visits when they enter the courthouse. According to the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries site, a clerk magistrate maintains the records of the court, and holds “limited judicial authority to hear and decide certain kinds of civil cases.” State laws provide clerk magistrates the power to screen some cases before an accused individual is charged and a criminal record is established, a process called clerk magistrate hearings or show-cause hearings. Through this closed-doors process, a clerk magistrate can determine whether a case can be resolved without a charge being made, or dismiss it entirely.
Manning said he plans to bring to Edgartown the “compassion, empathy, work ethic, and knowledge” he’s attained throughout his life. He also said he wants to find “creative” resolutions for less severe incidents, like someone vandalizing property, rather than immediately issue a criminal complaint or force the accused individual to face a judge.
“I don’t think young people or people who haven’t been involved in the court system should be thrown into the fire on smaller or less-than-serious crimes,” Manning said.
Manning also said it was important to be able to speak to people in terms they understood and to put visitors at ease during a hectic time: “That is what a clerk magistrate position is. It is a job focused on helping everyone who comes into the court regardless of their circumstances.”
Manning will be taking over the position once held by Liza Williamson, who served as clerk magistrate for more than 20 years, and was appointed to be a judge in June. Ann Marie Lyons has since served as the acting clerk magistrate.
This will be the first time the clerk magistrate’s office won’t be led by someone with direct Island ties. Williamson served as clerk magistrate for 21 years before being appointed as a judge, spent time growing up in both Duxbury and the Vineyard, and graduated from Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. Thomas Teller, who served as clerk magistrate for 39 years before retiring in 2003, grew up in Edgartown.
Joe Sollitto, former clerk of the Dukes County Superior Court, told The Times that the clerk of court position was established in Edgartown District Court around 1927, and was first held by Philip J. Norton. Sollitto said the clerk of court in the district court served the role of a court magistrate, which wouldn’t be officially changed until around 1980. Norton was succeeded by John Nichols.
And Manning’s appointment comes as the Edgartown courthouse experiences staffing issues with the absence of a permanent clerk magistrate. While Eunice Ziegler, a councilor from Methuen on the Massachusetts Governor’s Council, highlighted that the council’s practice of voting the same day as a hearing didn’t allow for any opposing voices to be heard, which she says usually arrive after a vote, Ferreira noted that the council wouldn’t meet again for another two weeks, and the Edgartown courthouse needed the help.
“In this particular instance, it is an Island. They are sending people out there every day. They’re really short-handed,” Ferreira said, highlighting Plymouth as one of the areas extra help had come from.
The council received numerous pieces of praise about Manning from attorneys and judges before and during the hearing on his appointment. Susan Moran, Barnstable County Superior Court clerk and a former state senator, called Manning “the greatest of all time of what the public service example of a lawyer is.”
Manning told the councilors that he learned to be a hard worker from his parents, a mother who kept home in “perfect working order” and a father who taught high school mathematics and was a coach. He also credited them for his desire to care for his community.
That was a quandary for Manning after he graduated from Lewis & Clark College in Oregon, and needed to determine a life path. Manning said he knew he wanted to “give something back to the community, but I was unsure what form that would take.” He eventually found his answer in the legal field.
“I will be committed to the fair, respectful, and dignified treatment of every person who enters the Edgartown District Court seeking justice or guidance or where to turn for help,” he said.