By Ethan Hartley 
ehartley@wickedlocal.com 

Posted Mar 8, 2017 at 8:51 AM
   
A criminal case involving a city councilman and a Medford media blogger was thrown out of Cambridge District Court.
A criminal suit brought forward by the Medford Police Department, following alleged harassment and intimidation of Medford City Council president Rick Caraviello that occurred after an incident at City Hall in the summer of 2015, was thrown out of Cambridge District Court on Jan. 31 when a judge decided that the prosecution did not have a legitimate case.
The incident that sparked the judiciary action happened in 2015 at Medford City Hall when Joe Viglione, a Medford resident and media blogger, alleged that he got into a physical altercation with Medford City Clerk, Ed Finn. Medford police investigated the incident, interviewed Caraviello, and determined the case to be closed with no action to be taken.
Subsequently, Viglione took to his blog to write about the incident, speaking critically of Finn and Caraviello, using words such as “lying, inept and bungling,” according to Viglione’s attorney, Michael Savage. Viglione was cautioned by Medford police to cease contact with those involved in the incident.
In December of 2015, Caraviello told police that he was still receiving correspondence in the form of emails and blog posts from Viglione making direct references to the incident, and Medford police eventually issued a complaint against Viglione for the intimidation of a witness. Viglione was arraigned in Cambridge District Court on Jan. 29, 2016.
Attorneys for the prosecution made the case that, since the statute of limitations had not yet expired regarding the incident that occurred at City Hall, the language used in the blog posts could be reasonably construed as trying to intimidate a potential witness.
However the judge ultimately found that, since there was no open investigation or court case occurring at the time that Caraviello alleged he was being intimidated by Viglione, the situation did not fit the definition of intimidating a witness, and the case was dismissed on Jan. 31.
“This is the first time I’m aware of that anybody has claimed that you are a potential witness until the statute runs out when no ongoing investigation or judicial proceedings are in existence,” said Savage of the odd nature of the case.