Welcome back everybody! I hope you had a great Labor Day Weekend. A particular welcome back to the student’s returning to schools in the Boston area. As you kids may have heard, and I will discuss in more detail tomorrow, there are new laws and procedures in place to deal…
SPECIAL SATURDAY EDITION This has been a bad stretch for the Boston area in terms of homicides. Police believe they have solved the 43rd murder this year as compared to 38 killings last year at this time. The pizza delivery killing was the fifth murder in Boston in the last…
This daily criminal law blog has been short-ciruited today due to internet failure. However, it will reappear tomorrow (yes, even though it is Saturday) with the planned discussion of murder investigations, witnesses and pizza delivery. Oh, yes. And do we mean by “truth” in the criminal justice system? Until then…beware…
Yesterday, we discussed the mechanics of this matter. Basically, we addressed the difference between a criminal appeal and a motion for a new trial as well as why it may have made sense for the defense attorney, prosecutor and SJC to take the action that they did. I should point…
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”), the Commonwealth’s highest court , situated in Boston, has rejected a motion by Calvin C., convicted in the 2005 Bourneside murders,(hereinafter, the “Defendant”) to stay his appeal so that he could seek a new trial based on evidence he said showed he was framed.…
A 24-year-old Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary has pleaded not guilty to charges of unlawful wiretap and breaking and entering in the daytime with intent to commit a felony. Daniel G. Richards was arrested on Sunday. Richards is accused of breaking into another student’s dorm room and videotaping her without her consent.…
It would appear that Boston-Based Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office is on the trail of what it believes to be an upcoming white collar criminal prosecution. The target is Representative Brian P. Wallace of South Boston (hereinafter, the “Target”). It has been alleged that he violated fund-raising laws. A spokesman…
The Death Penalty has long been a controversial issue. Nowhere is that more true than in good ol’ Massachusetts. You see, the Commonwealth, like most states, has two criminal justice systems running through it – state and federal. The crime of murder, which often carries capital punishment sentences, is usually…
The Massachusetts criminal defense team for Gary Lee Sampson is scheduled to appear in court on Monday to argue that their client should get a new trial. Sampson, who a federal judge sentenced to death in 2003 for the murder of three people, contends that his constitutional rights were violated…
The state Supreme Judicial Court will likely issue a ruling in the next few weeks on Christopher McCowen’s appeal to have his Massachusetts murder and rape convictions in the slaying of fashion writer Christa Worthington overturned. McCowen’s criminal defense team is arguing that it was wrong to allow the a…