Former Norwood Resident Robert J. Carnes Appointed District Attorney for Berkshire County-August 9, 1990

Xaverian Brothers High School Graduate and Former Patriot Ledger Stringer Believed to be Massachusetts’ Youngest District Attorney

A former Norwood man is believed to be the youngest district attorney in Massachusetts after stepping into the Berkshire County post last month. Robert J. Carnes, who will celebrate his 37th birthday on August 17, was sworn into office by Governor Michael S. Dukakis on July 20 in North Adams. (Photo 2015 Legacy.com)

He succeeds Anthony J. Ruberto Jr., who was sworn in on the same day as a district court judge. “I’m really honored that the governor saw fit to appoint me,” Carnes said during a telephone interview from his home in Pittsfield. “It’s something of an honor to take over for Tony [Ruberto] and run things as he would have run them for the next couple of months,” added Carnes, who previously served as first assistant district attorney under Ruberto.

Growing up in Norwood, Carnes lived at 43 Pleasant St., where his parents, Alfred and Dorothy Carnes, still reside. He graduated from Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood in 1971, went on to earn a degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1976, and received his law degree from Suffolk University Law School three years later. Additionally, he obtained a business administration degree from North Adams State College in 1988. Early in his professional pursuits, Carnes worked part-time as a stringer at The Patriot Ledger‘s Norwood office.

Though he initially practiced law in private firms in Boston, Carnes moved west to secure prosecutorial experience within the Berkshire County District Attorney’s office. His promotion to the $72,500-a-year position is temporary, as he was appointed to complete Ruberto’s unexpired term ending in January. Carnes chose not to run for election after Ruberto’s nomination to the bench was announced in the spring, stating plans to return to private practice in January to remain in the Berkshires, which is the hometown of his wife, Maryann (Smith) Carnes. Between March 1988 and May 1989, Carnes previously stepped in as acting district attorney while Ruberto successfully battled leukemia. Ruberto, who became Berkshire County’s first elected district attorney in 1978, made a remarkable recovery before his judicial appointment.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger