Report: Ex-Probation Commissioner Seeks New Trial

Lawyers for convicted former Massachusetts probation Commissioner John O'Brien allege that a key witness lied on the stand in their request for a new trial.

O'Brien and two top deputies in the Probation Department were convicted in July of federal racketeering charges for running a rigged hiring system in the agency which prosecutors say favored the politically-connected candidates over more qualified applicants.

The Boston Globe reports that O'Brien's lawyers allege in a motion filed Monday that Robert Mulligan, the former chief justice for administration of the trial courts and a witness for the prosecution, had himself kept a list of job applicants sponsored by legislators, contrary to his testimony at trial.

The lawyers say that information showed that patronage hiring was widespread.

O'Brien is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 12.