Burlington Police Chief Michael Kent announced today that two men have officially been charged with the murder of a woman whose body was found at a Burlington hotel this past Thursday July 2nd. The victim, 34 year old Sanisha Johnson of the Bronx, New York, was discovered in a first…
Jurors in Suffolk Superior Court found Edwin Alemany guilty of first-degree murder and 15 other counts, including premeditated murder, for the killing of Amy Lord. Alemany was also found guilty of attacking two other women before and after killing Lord. In July of 2013, Alemany kidnapped Lord from outside her…
Well, the trial of 26-year-old Michael Stallings from Boston (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) is over. While it ended in a conviction, the defense is likely counting it as a “win”. The Defendant was acquitted of the top count, Murder in the First Degree, but convicted on the lesser charges of Involuntary…
The term “person of interest” has no legal definition, but generally refers to someone who authorities believe has information related to a crime. Although deliberately ambiguous to any suspicion of guilt, you can be assured that if law enforcement labels you a “person of interest” they believe you were some…
As you know, I have been ensconced in the criminal justice system since the early 1980’s. One of the perks of being around so long, and being fairly successful, is that various media outlets often contact me to discuss some development in criminal justice. They know that I am a…
Juries are often criticized in this country when folks don’t like the verdict they deliver. In my experience, though, jurors are not some ignorant bundle of jello-wobbling mindlessly from side to side during the trial, just waiting to pop out a verdict for the side with more money. In my…
Let’s not accept the exception to the rule as a substitute for the general criminal justice rule. Particularly in cases where the stakes are as high as they are in murder cases. Especially when the penalties are either death or life imprisonment without the chance of parole. The Dzhokhar Tsarnaev…
As you may recall, we were talking about death and were about to move on to the convicted Boston Marathon Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (hereinafter, “Convicted”). As you no doubt know, Convicted is now sitting through the penalty phase of his murder trial in Boston’s Federal District Court. As he has…
As you are probably aware, the first murder trial of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) continues in Fall River. In this case, he is charged with the June 17, 2013, killing of Odin Lloyd. No doubt, many interesting facts and allegations have come to light…
A number of high profile matters are seeing action in the Commonwealth at the moment. One of them is a trial in Fall River. It is the murder trial of former new England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez. This trial concerns murder allegations that Hernandez killed Odin Lloyd. This morning, the…