44-year-old Stevie Walker is on Trial in Suffolk Superior Court for the November 4, 2005 stabbing murder of Galina Kotik, a 65-year-old Russian grandmother, inside her Fenway apartment building in Boston. Walker had been smoking crack cocaine for up to 24 hours before he went to Kotik’s building to visit…
The FBI says that the number of hate crimes committed in the United States grew by almost 8%, with racism being the reason for more than 50% of the incidents. In 2006, police in the US reported 7,722 crimes occurred because of prejudice against someone due to their sexual orientation,…
Mychal Bell, the 17-year-old accused of hitting a white classmate in the famous “Jena Six” case pled guilty yesterday to assaulting Justin Barker. Bell and five other black teenagers were charged with attempted murder for beating Barker last December. Bell had initially been convicted as an adult by an all-white…
Lower Superior Court Judge Kenneth Fishman has cleared Ki Yong O, an Andover, Massachusetts resident, of motor vehicle homicide charges because taking the prescription drug may have caused him to engage in sleep-driving when he struck and killed a 43-year-old Methuen men last year. In June 2006, O struck and…
Statistics show that domestic violence-related murders are increasing in Massachusetts. As of October this year, there were 37 reported killings involving domestic violence. Last year, the total figure was 31 domestic murders. There were 15 domestic slayings that were reported in 2005. The number of domestic killings for this year…
In Massachusetts, US District Judge Nancy Gertner dismissed drug charges against Earl Dessesaure on the grounds that federal prosecutors conducted a sloppy investigation and a Boston police officer made fabricated statements about the case in court. Gertner called the prosecution “deeply flawed” and said allowing the case to advance would…
An FBI forensic test considered so faulty that the FBI no longer uses it may have caused juries to wrongfully convict hundreds of innocent people who are now serving prison time for crimes they did not commit. The forensic test uses a science called bullet-lead analysis, which links bullets used…
Police in Boston want parents to allow detectives to enter their children’s bedrooms without a warrant to look for guns. The new program, targeting high-crime areas and set to begin in a couple of weeks, is already raising questions in Massachusetts about civil liberties. Police officers assigned to Boston area…
Corrine Stephen, a 25-year-old Massachusetts foster mother, was found guilty of causing the death of four-year-old Dontel Jeffers because she did not get him medical help immediately after he was severely beaten. Stephen had been charged with second-degree murder, but yesterday was convicted of involuntary manslaughter by the Suffolk County…
Three men in Massachusetts who have been convicted of federal drug charges in connection to cocaine sales that they made in and around the Bromley-Health Housing Development have been sentenced to long prison terms and will be banned from the Boston area once they are released. Amos Carassquillo, 19, Nathan…