Court vacates convictions against Black Muslim man whose attorney made racist posts

The highest court in Massachusetts has vacated sex trafficking convictions against a Black Muslim man whose court-appointed attorney had a history of posting racist and anti-Muslim vitriol on social media.

Attorney Richard Doyle had a conflict of interest that deprived the defendant of his right to effective assistance of counsel, “a right upon which our entire system of criminal justice depends,” the Supreme Judicial Court wrote in its unanimous decision released Thursday.