Anthony Simulynas, a 74-year-old man from Auburn, has been placed on 10 years of probation for charges arising from a seizure of 85 firearms and 800 pounds of ammunition from his home. A former gun dealer, Simulynas pleaded guilty to 16 counts of possessing an infernal machine, two counts of…
Verna Sewell, a 65-year-old Dorchester woman, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Suffolk Superior Court yesterday, according to the Boston Globe. The case arose out of the May 2009 stabbing death of 74-year-old Julius Scott, who shared an apartment with Sewell. She will be sentenced tomorrow. Police were informed…
Christopher Higgins, a 43-year-old Dorchester man, pleaded not guilty Thursday in West Roxbury municipal court to one count of unarmed robbery and was held on $5,000 cash bail. It is alleged that Higgins robbed a West Roxbury bank and tricked his friend into driving the getaway car by saying he…
Marcos Colono, a 32-year-old Cambridge man, was indicted Thursday in Middlesex Superior Court on two counts of rape of a child by force, two counts of home invasion, armed assault with intent to murder, and other charges. Prosecutors claim that Colono raped an 11-year-old boy and stabbed his father during…
Tuesday night there was yet another shooting in the Boston area. This time it was in Somerville. By the time it was over, a police detective was wounded and a young man was dead. So far, there is nobody to label “Defendant” in this one. The young man, Mathew Krister,…
Do you think that homicide is a game only the young can play? Well, Verna S., a 65 year-old woman from Dorchester woman (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) would beg to differ. Yesterday, she was convicted in the May 2009 stabbing death of a 74-year-old man, Julius S.,(hereinafter, the “Deceased”) in the…
The good people of Salt Lake City have been chomping at the bit for a currentt trial. It has been a long time in coming. It is the trial of the alleged abductor of Elizabeth Smart. 57-year-old Brian David Mitchell (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) is the man accused. After approximately 8…
Last week, I began this mini-series about perspectives in the criminal justice system. I started with that of the police officers. As the week went on, the news was more and more full of examples illustrating my point. First, the only alleged police misconduct dominating the Boston news in took…
The Massachusetts sexual crime case against Austin Renaud, one of the ex-South Hadley High School students charged with statutory rape in the Phoebe Prince suicide-bullying case, is scheduled go to trial next year. The 18-year-old has been charged as an adult. He has pleaded not guilty to the rape charge.…
Perhaps it is my fault. Maybe I have been concentrating on tales of police investigations into crimes like murder, robbery and assault, that I have neglected to remind you that the “self-help” approach is seldom applauded in criminal justice. I know that this may be counter-intuitive for many of you,…