We live in a “when the going gets tough, the tough get blaming” society today. We continue to fall into the same behavior in the face of tragedy. Then we wonder why we have the same problems. A police officer has been murdered during a robbery t. The shooter, Dominic…
Well, if this past New Years Eve in Lowell and Lynn are any indication, we are in for another angry and violent year. Both Massachusetts towns were scenes of armed assaults, one of them fatal. Yesterday, Jameson Phoun, 20 , and Sothy Voeun, 19, both of Lowell, (hereinafter, the “Defendants”)…
The more serious the crime, the more desperate the prosecution becomes to predict the defense’s strategy. It is the one area in which the defense has a bit of an advantage. In a very public homicide case, outside of Massachusetts, case, prosecutors seem to be floating “trial balloons” to force…
2010 is ending with a tragedy which many people believe could have, and should have, been averted. I am talking about the recent homicide of Woburn police officer John Maguire as he tried to apprehend robbery suspects during Sunday’s blizzard. The accused killer, Dominic Dinelli , 57, (hereinafter, the “Parolee”),…
20-year-old Darryene Ware, a Brockton resident, was arraigned on Thursday for Massachusetts murder. He is accused of fatally shooting 16-year-old Chantel Matiyosus as she was leaving a baby shower in 2008. According to police. Ware and a number of other people who call themselves “D Block” started shooting at the…
This is one of those stories from this year which would probably never happen in Boston. First of all, in Massachusetts, Murder in the First Degree carries a mandatory life sentence without parole. It leaves very little to work with when one is trying to make promises to suspects to…
Saying that the constitutional rights of Raymond and Ronald Mendes were violated during trial, Massachusetts’s Appeals Court has overturned their drug convictions: possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, and drug violation in a school or park zone. Raymond also had been convicted…
Today, as we “hunker down” and “enjoy” the last blizzard of the year, we continue the discussion about recent Massachusetts sentences that were recently handed down to fairly unusual criminal defendants during this holiday season. Today’s matter involves a meeting of sexual assault and prostitution. James M. Burke, 43, of…
I am often asked whether Massachusetts prosecutors and judges are more lenient during the holiday season. The answer is like most answers in human events…it depends. As we end the year in which various unlikely Massachusetts criminal defendants have faced “Justice” at the bar, it is worth seeing what sentences…
The Norfolk district attorney’s office says that Brighton resident Joseph Arita and Waltham local Ismael Martinez are serving 20 – 25 years in prison for the 2009 Brookline rape and kidnapping of a 30-year-old woman. Arita, 26, and Martinez, 27, each pleaded guilty earlier this month to one count of…