Candidate for Norfolk County District Attorney speaks at Stonehill

By Maddi Achtyl

Candidate Djuna Perkins said the Karen Read case and the death of a young, pregnant woman spurred her decision to run for Norfolk County District Attorney.

“I have never run for office before. I was not on my town committee. I was not on the planning board. I didn't plan to run. But I started paying attention to what was happening in Norfolk County's office,” said Perkins.

            She made her comments during a talk sponsored by The Martin Institute on Tuesday, where residents, students, and faculty gathered to hear her vision for improving the prosecutor’s office if elected.

Perkins is an attorney with over 30 years of experience as a prosecutor, litigator, and external consultant to educational institutions and employers. She also served for ten years as a Massachusetts assistant attorney general and assistant district attorney.

She criticized comments made by the current Norfolk County in December 2023 regarding the highly publicized Karen Read case, the woman charged and later acquitted in the death of a Boston police officer in 2022.

“The district attorney put out a video in which he commented on the evidence in the case of Karen Read for the death of John O’Keefe…. Much of the controversy surrounding that case resulted from poor decisions by the DA that wouldn’t have been made by an experienced prosecutor,” Perkins said.

This is her first time running for office, but she SAID SHE is confident that she can address the injustices occurring in Norfolk County. She became a lawyer to rectify the injustices she saw around her.

“A prosecutor is never supposed to make a comment on the evidence that could potentially taint the jury pool and prejudice the defendant… the district attorney's job is to represent justice for all,” she said.

She said that was just one case she was concerned about.

“The real reason that tipped me over the edge to decide to run was the failure to investigate and prosecute the murder of Sandra Birchmore,” Perkins said.

Birchmore was a 23-year-old pregnant woman who was found dead in her Canton apartment in 2021. The prosecutor believed it to be suicide, but it was later ruled a homicide. A Stoughton police officer faces murder charges in her death following a federal investigation.

The Norfolk District Attorney is responsible for deciding who to prosecute and what charges to bring in every criminal case. Perkins said she has extensive prosecution experience, including high profile cases.

Her investigation of a Massachusetts school teacher prosecuted for sexual abuse resulted in the termination and license suspension of the superintendent and high school principal who failed to recognize signs that the teacher was having sexual relationships with his students. Perkins has recommended a handful of institutional reforms that the district subsequently adopted.

There are more than 750,000 people in the 28 cities and towns in Norfolk County. Perkins pledged to ensure transparency and build trust with the residents from day one if elected. She plans to join other counties, such as Middlesex and Suffolk County, in publishing officer-involved shooting reports and prosecution statistics on the District Attorney's website.

During the question period following her talk, Madison Bibeau ’29 asked Perkins how she would have handled the Karen Read case if she had been the DA at the time.

“There's a lot I would have done. I would have handled the messages from Trooper Michael Proctor differently. He would not have been assigned to that unit… I also would have dealt with the damage those text messages did in a different way, of trying to trial… I would have kept my mind open to the evidence because the evidence did evolve.”

Over the past year, Djuna Perkins said she has been visiting all 28 towns in Norfolk County, met with hundreds of people and attended various events.

She said she realizes the energy surrounding local elections is truly “exciting and incredible.”

Perkins said she wants all residents of Norfolk County to get equal treatment, and victims are served the justice they deserve.

Voting will be held on September 1, 2026. If elected, Djuna Perkins will serve as the Norfolk County District Attorney for the next four years.