Boston detective retires amid investigation

Boston detective retires amid investigation
By O’Ryan Johnson  |   Wednesday, December 22, 2010  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Coverage

Lt. Detective Trent Holland, 55, of Brockton
Photo by Matt Stone (file)

A Boston police detective quietly retired Monday night and hired a high-powered defense lawyer amid a Cape probe, police said.

Boston police say there is an open internal investigation into Lt. Detective Trent Holland, 55, of Brockton, relating to an allegation made about an incident 15 years ago in Dennis, said Boston Police Department spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll.

Holland’s lawyer, Thomas Drechsler, declined to say why he was hired by Holland but said he is not aware of any allegation of wrongdoing against his client.

“He made a personal decision to retire,” Drechsler said. “He’s had a long and distinguished career . . . I want to emphasize he hasn’t been served with any charges. There are no charges pending against him.”

Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said he was not aware of any criminal investigation by his office into Holland.

Holland has a long history of prevailing against complaints of official wrongdoing. Driscoll said Holland’s only sustained Internal Affairs complaint was for failing to note injuries to a prisoner in 1987.

Holland was accused of wrongfully detaining witnesses in the Carol DiMaiti Stuart murder case, but he and three other cops were cleared by a federal jury in 1995.

Later that year, Holland was acquitted of an allegation of planting drugs. In 1997, he was acquitted of a civil rights violation in a botched drug raid.

In 1998, Holland was sued by Marvin Mitchell, who was cleared of child rape by DNA evidence after serving seven years. Mitchell claimed Holland lied under oath.

The city settled the case, with no admission of guilt, Mitchell’s lawyer said yesterday.

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