NORTHAMPTON — Expanding victims’ rights, making sure defendants who can’t afford lawyers still receive representation and giving female lawyers career opportunities are among former Northwestern district attorney John Callahan’s accomplishments during and after his tenure in office.
“I look at John as having a legacy unparalleled in law,” says current Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan. “He was a giant among the legal community who was really dedicated to serving others.”
Callahan, who died Feb. 18 at the age of 83, is being remembered for a 44-year legal career that began in 1962 as general counsel for the CIA, continued from 1971 to 1978 as the part-time district attorney, and concluded in 2006 as a partner with the law firm of Growhoski, Callahan & Kuzmeski.
It was during his time as district attorney where he inspired those who followed him, including W. Michael Ryan, who was elected to the position in 1982.
“He always had a great vision and great concepts and was on the cutting edge of reform,” Ryan said Thursday. “He was so forward-thinking.”
Ryan recalls getting advice from Callahan. “He helped me to see the possibilities in the office. He had strategies to not only prosecute crime, but to prevent crime,” Ryan said.
Callahan obtained a federal grant that paid to bring in trial attorneys, which Ryan said was a transformative step, because up until the 1970s most court cases were handled by police officers. Another grant allowed Callahan to launch a consumer protection office.
Former Superior Court Judge Mary-Lou Rup said Callahan was often referred to as the “chairman of the board” for his influence on the Hampshire and Franklin county legal communities.
He was also instrumental in creating the Hampshire County Bar Association’s bar advocates program and professionalizing that aspect of criminal defense, Rup said.
“That was true to his love of law and firm belief in having good, zealous and skilled lawyers representing them,” Rup said
One of his lasting achievements came after leaving office, when in 1982 he chaired a study on indigent defense programs, launched by the Massachusetts Bar Association Task Force. That provided the basis for what would become the Committee for Public Counsel Services, which continues to this day.
What Callahan did for representing the indigent in court was critical, Sullivan said. But Callahan also saw the importance of victim’s rights, and was at the forefront of getting advocates for them, he said.
Both Sullivan and Ryan said that one of his strengths was his ability to lead prosecutions.
“His trial skills were unmatched,” Sullivan said.
“What a great trial lawyer he was. He brought a whole dimension to trying cases in Hampshire County,” Ryan said. “He was the most impressive local lawyer I ever saw.”
Ryan remembers Callahan showing his abilities during two simultaneous prosecutions in the late 1970s. One involved Luke Scanlan, a Northampton police officer who, beginning in 1974, broke into and looted more than 20 businesses in the city. The other involved Herman Harris, a Navy sailor stationed in Virginia who killed his mother, sister and a boarder in Easthampton.
“I used to go to court just to watch him. His cross-examinations were particularly outstanding,” Ryan said.
Callahan grew up in Hadley and went to the University of Notre Dame and the Boston College School of Law. As counsel for the CIA in the early 1960s, he gained the release of Cuban Americans who had been captured during the Bay of Pigs invasion. In the late 1960s, Callahan helped to establish the Massachusetts Chapter of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.
“He was passionate about law and the clients he represented,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said he was among those mentored by Callahan. “He was a mentor to me and to many other attorneys. He would always be available to young attorneys,” Sullivan aid.
Rup, too, appreciated being able to intern in Callahan’s office and later to work with him and see the wonderful treatment he gave his clients.
“Working with John on criminal and civil litigation was an incredible learning experience,” Rup said.
Ryan said Callahan also promoted equality by making sure women had a role. Elizabeth Porada became the first woman to prosecute cases when she became an assistant district attorney under Callahan.
Being encouraging to young women lawyers was important to Rup and others as they began their careers.
Sullivan said Callahan’s daughter, Elizabeth Mulcahy, is now the chief of the juvenile justice unit for the district attorney’s office.
“He was really a family person, and he was always involved in the community,” Sullivan said.
Callahan is survived by his wife, Kathryn, four daughters and seven grandchildren. His funeral is 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Patrick’s Church in South Hadley.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
