Charlestown Man Gets Jail Term for Withholding Testimony in Murder Case
BOSTON, Feb. 18, 2016—A Charlestown man was sentenced to two years behind bars this week for refusing to provide information during a grand jury investigation into the 2014 murder of Ryan Morrissey, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.
Daniel Goggin pleaded guilty Tuesday as his trial on one count of criminal contempt of court was scheduled to begin. At the request of Assistant District Attorney Montez Haywood of the DA’s Senior Trial Unit, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Edward P. Leibensperger sentenced him to two years in the house of corrections.
Had the case proceeded to trial, Haywood would have presented evidence and testimony to prove that Goggin was called before the Suffolk County Grand Jury to testify to information about the Nov. 5, 2014, shooting that claimed the life of Ryan Morrissey and injured his 19-year-old friend.
During his first appearance before the grand jury on Feb. 24, Goggin was appointed an attorney and invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege. During his second appearance on March 26, Goggin received a judicial order of immunity, invalidating his Fifth Amendment claim. In spite of that order, Goggin refused to testify on that date and again on March 30.
As a result of his refusal to testify, Judge Elizabeth Fahey ordered Goggin held in civil contempt until such time as he testified or the grand jury investigation came to a close. Prosecutors subsequently indicted him for criminal contempt.
