HYANNIS – Now into his second week on the job, Cape and Islands District Attorney Rob Galibois says he’s hard at work on campaign promises made during last year’s race.
Chief among them is working towards a mental health session that will focus on his goals of rehabilitation for those accused of crimes.
“As we roll into February, I’m looking forward to getting together with Barnstable District Court First Justice John Julian again to further that conversation. And we have had some conversations with local legislators here on the Cape—actually the full delegation,” said Galibois.
“I am confident in saying that we will enjoy the full support of the Cape delegation, as we are going to have to coordinate both with the trial court and our state legislators to launch a mental health session. I am quite hopeful that we’re going to get there.”
In addition to the mental health session, Galibois says he is instituting a “vertical prosecution” structure that will ensure officials won’t get brought onto cases they aren’t already familiar with.
Under the new system, the prosecutor at arraignment will follow the case all the way through the court system.
“We’re trying to do away with instances and circumstances where a case arrives on a trial list and the prosecutor that is covering that session is seeing it for the first time,” said Galibois.
“With this vertical prosecution that we’ve put into place, it eliminates that possibility and prosecutors are getting to know each case as they’re going through the system.”
Galibois, a Democrat, takes over for a historically Republican lead role, but he says that it has been a smooth transition from previous DA Michael O’Keef, who held the position for more than 20 years.
He adds that he is looking forward to working with others adjusting to their new roles, including Barnstable County Sheriff Donna Buckley and Governor Maura Healey.
Galibois said that Healey has contacted Galibois to discuss mental health in the court system and he expects ongoing support by her administration.
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