Split decision in Barry Scott case

Disorderly conduct conviction reversed; resisting arrest conviction affirmed.

A three-member panel of the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the state's intermediate appellate court, repealed local personality Barry Scott's conviction for disorderly conduct but affirmed the jury's guilty verdict of resisting arrest.

Provincetown police arrested Scott in 2007. Police were responding to a third noise complaint at private party at a home. Scott was the disc jockey at the party. He is well known as the host of the long running radio show "The Lost 45's." Scott turned off the music and, according to the police report on the incident, then spoke on his microphone to incite the crowd. Police believed he was inciting a riot and resisting arrest. Scott denies this account.

(The paragraph below was corrected at 11:23 am, Feb. 24, 2011. Bay Windows mistakenly reported Scott did not turn off the music when requested due to a reporting error. He did turn off the music and we regret the error.)

Scott claims the Provincetown police used undue force while arresting him and placing his partner Bryan Richardson in protective custody. Scott was injured during the arrest, a lacerated nose that was excessively bleeding, and was treated at the police station and, after release, at Mass General Hospital in Boston. The Provincetown police report described the cause of Scott's injuries: "His head inadvertently came in contact with a window frame." District Attorney Michael O'Keefe investigated the incident and found the police officers acted appropriately.

Since the 2007 incident, Scott and his partner Bryan Richardson have maintained they are innocent of any wrongdoing and are victims of a corrupt judicial system.

In the four years since the incident, the case has remained in the news as Scott has battled to clear his name. The testimony of prosecution witness Ed Foley contradicted his earlier statements to the press. Foley told media outlets that police injured Scott and he was not resisting arrest. There were also reports of jury misconduct which were not investigated.

In an e-mail exchange with Bay Windows, Scott stated he considered the reversal of the disorderly conduct charge "the first victory in three and a half years of criminal behavior by the court." Scott is considering an additional appeal of the remaining resisting arrest conviction.