White's Attorney Seeks Internal Affairs Files On Ex-Wife

As Dennis White awaits word from Acting Mayor Kim Janey as to whether he will be formally fired from his short-lived role as the city's top cop, his lawyers are demanding new information about White's estranged ex-wife, Sybil Mason.

In a letter to Acting Mayor Kim Janey, Dennis White's lawyer claims that the allegations of abuse Mason made against White to WBUR are false and contradict previous sworn statements she made decades ago. White's lawyer, Nicholas Carter, said Thursday he has requested Mason's internal affairs files from the city.

White was put on leave in February, just days after he was appointed commissioner by former Mayor Marty Walsh, as the city investigated the domestic violence allegations made by Mason and another family member more than two decades ago.

On Wednesday, Mason detailed to WBUR allegations that White was verbally, physically and emotionally abusive during their marriage. Mason said she felt compelled to speak publicly for the first time because of video testimonies from White, her eldest daughter and sister that alleged she was the instigator in their toxic relationship. While Mason said she did fight back against her ex-husband, she denies ever being the first to become physical.

In the letter sent Thursday, attorney Carter claimed Mason's comments to WBUR contradicted her previous sworn testimony to police in 1999. Carter asserted that Mason was the aggressor in the marriage.

"Sybil Mason is not a credible witness and evidence of fraud and violent, assaultive behavior would tend to confirm what Commissioner White, Tiffany White and Connie Owens (Sybil’s sister) have said under oath about Sybil being the one who abused Dennis White (and many others), not the other way around," Carter wrote in the letter.

Carter indicated that he sent a document request to the city seeking Mason's internal affairs files, personnel files and any other records the city has involving alleged misconduct by Mason.

"Dennis White’s IA files and other personnel information have been reviewed and scrutinized publicly in this matter; Sybil Mason’s IA files and personnel information should also be disclosed especially because her allegations are central to the matter pending before you: whether to remove Commissioner White," Carter wrote.

White, in a newly released sworn affidavit, also stated that he never physically abused his and Mason's youngest daughter. The statement, the affidavit says, is in response to social media posts the daughter made Wednesday, apparently siding with her mother's accounts.

After Janey held a virtual hearing with White and his lawyer Wednesday, she said she would review whether White would be terminated and would "make a decision after careful deliberation."