A Democrat from Cohasset is “exploring” a run for Norfolk County district attorney, an elected position that has faced intense scrutiny over the past year for the prosecution of Karen Read and the investigation into Sandra Birchmore’s death.
Craig MacLellan, a former prosecutor in Suffolk County and practicing defense attorney, filed paperwork Thursday to mount a bid for Norfolk County district attorney, a race that is not on the ballot until 2026 and has been held by Michael Morrissey since 2011.
Both the prosecution of Read on charges she murdered her Boston cop boyfriend and decisions made following the death of Birchmore, a 23-year-old who authorities said was strangled to death by a Stoughton cop while pregnant, have thrust Morrissey and the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office into the spotlight.
MacLellan said those cases did not influence his decision to run for the office, though they serve as “a few examples of why the public has lost confidence in the office.”
“Both cases give rise to serious concerns relative to the objectivity and integrity of the investigative process, which is extremely damaging to the overall mission of the office. Despite the failures that these cases have revealed, it is simultaneously important that, as a community, we don’t allow the drama and controversy to overshadow the tragic loss of human life in each case,” MacLellan said in a statement.
MacLellan graduated from Providence College in 2002 with a marketing degree before heading to Suffolk University Law School. After earning his Juris Doctor, he worked at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office for eight years as a prosecutor.
He also served as an investigating staff attorney at the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct, the state agency responsible for looking into complaints that state court judges have engaged in misconduct or have a disability preventing them from doing their jobs.
He worked as a litigation associate at a Boston law firm and as a litigation manager for his own practice. MacLellan has served on the Cohasset School Committee for the past six years.
MacLellan said he filed paperwork to run for Norfolk County district attorney to restore “trust and confidence in this impactful public office.”
“In doing so, I have taken the important step of forming an exploratory committee, to meet with residents across the county and have conversations about the challenges we face and the potential solutions,” he said.
The move comes roughly two years before voters head to the polls for the 2026 election and could put him up against Morrissey — if the incumbent decides to run for reelection.
“Regaining the public’s trust will be a long-term process that must start at the constituent level. Forming the committee this far in advance of the election will give me the time necessary to do something that is too often overlooked in our political system — to listen,” MacLellan said.
District attorneys serve four-year terms and Morrissey has not faced a challenger in more than a decade, easily gliding to reelection in uncontested races.
Morrissey faced his last challenge in his first election in 2010 after then-District Attorney Bill Keating decided to mount a successful run for Congress.
Morrissey won 47% of the vote in the 2010 Democratic primary against two opponents and 60% of the vote in the general election against an independent candidate months later, according to state data.
A spokesman for Morrissey did not immediately respond to a Herald inquiry sent Saturday.
MacLellan declined to weigh in on Morrissey’s handling of the Read and Birchmore cases, telling the Herald it “would be irresponsible of me to cavalierly broadcast an outsider’s perspective which could, to some, masquerade as informed fact.”
Read was accused of killing Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe two years ago when she allegedly rammed her vehicle into him after a night out. She denied the accusations and a nine-week trial ended with a deadlocked jury.
Attorneys for Read are in the process of taking their efforts to drop the murder charge against her to the Supreme Judicial Court, the highest state court in Massachusetts.
Morrissey has faced criticism for taking the unprecedented step of making a public comment in Read’s case. Some saw his push-back against “baseless” online commentary about the case as an attack on the defense’s third-party killer theory and unethical use of his position to influence the outcome.
Morrissey has also been under fire from some observers for not mounting a prosecution in Birchmore’s death, even after internal Stoughton Police Department investigations found questionable behavior by one of their officers.
More than three years after her death, federal prosecutors have leveled charges against former Stoughton Police Officer Matthew Farwell that accuse him of grooming, raping, impregnating, and then killing Birchmore.