Hmm… I wonder if you see a connection between two stories in yesterday’s news. First of all, it seems that the number of Massachusetts prison inmates granted parole has dropped significantly this past year. You may recall that, during this year, the state Parole Board was overhauled in the wake…
With all due respect to my fellow professionals, I sometimes think that if you would read the Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog more often and take its message to heart…maybe we would not be looking back and saying “Whoops” so often. The jury came back last week in the New Jersey…
Before we go into other reasons that a defendant may decide not to testify, there is one thing I should make clear. Whether or not to testify is nobody’s decision than the defendant himself. It is not the decision of the defense attorney, nor the judge and certainly not the…
This week, we have discussed the endings of a few high-profile criminal trials. We discussed the New Jersey Rutgers Cyber-Bullying case, the Mattapan Massacre Murder case and a homicide retrial in Lawrence. All three trials had something in common. The defendants did not testify. The issue of a criminal defendant…
Sometimes this Boston criminal lawyer has to just chuckle, look down and shake his head. So many things in the criminal justice system are predictable. And yet, we, as a society, seem never to learn. Or is it simply that we do not care? Two local criminal justice stories dominated…
In most cases, from OUI, to drug crimes , to rape, the criminal justice system views the beginning of your prosecution when you are brought into court and standing before either a judge of some sort for arraignment. In some cases, usually in superior court, Clerk Magistrates handle the arraignments.…
You have been charged with a crime. You went to court, either for a Clerk Magistrate’s Hearing or for your Arraignment, without a lawyer. You figured the court would give you a lawyer and you would be home free. After all, maybe you know you did not do what they…
The Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog was discussing evidence. How much is necessary to find a defendant guilty. What kind of evidence can be admitted and when. That kind of thing. Putting aside the issue of actual character evidence, bad acts and prior convictions are often admissible to impeach a witnes’s…
As you know, if you are a daily reader, the Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog often finds fault with the criminal justice system. Frequent targets of my wrath are law enforcement officers and district attorneys. Well, I guess that makes sense. I am, after all, a criminal defense attorney. However, the…
Super Bowl Sunday 2012 was a stunning disappointment for many New England Patriots fans. Some fans took their emotions to a higher level. And they may pay the price for it. According to the campus police, fighting from members of an unruly crowd of angry fans began around 10:00pm when…