On March 5, 2017, the state's highest court has ruled that former Speaker of the House Tom Finneran has to forfeit his pension, ending a years-long battle the former pol waged to keep his $33,000-a-year benefit. The Supreme Judicial Court overturned a district court order, ruling that Finneran's conviction for providing false testimony in a federal civil suit over the House's redistricting plan was directly linked to his job as speaker. That connection, the court decided, meant the State Retirement Board was right in stripping him of his annual pension. Finneran pleaded guilty in 2007 to one count of obstruction of justice. "Finneran's conduct falls squarely within ... requiring forfeiture where there is a direct factual link between the public employee's position and the offense," the court wrote. "Finneran's false testimony concerning his knowledge of and participation in the redistricting planning process is in at least two respects directly linked as a factual matter to his position as Speaker of the House." Finneran's pension is valued at about $470,000, according to court papers, including $240,000 the state would have owed him if the SJC upheld the district court order.