Articles Posted in Criminal Law

Do you need some more proof that times have changed in the criminal justice system? Want some more evidence that sometimes prosecutions are all about publicity?

Let’s turn to a short-lived prosecution in Fall River.

You may remember the horrific story from last year wherein it turned out that a woman was found dead in a public pool. Well, it was actually a bit worse than that. The woman was actually found quite awhile after she had died in the pool. In fact, two days had passed.

During the intermittent time? Folks swam on, unaware that they were swimming in such a morbid scene.

Of course, such are the things of which lawsuits are made. Civil actions from the family of the deceased woman. Civil lawsuits from the patrons who swam in the death-infested water. Not to mention the lawsuit from the poor souls who saw the body!

Well, the Commonwealth decided that civil lawsuits were not enough this time. The local district attorney decided that criminal charges should be brought. No, not regarding the death of the deceased…but because of the kids who swam in the water wherein the corpse lay.

On Tuesday, that criminal action ended with a whimper, not a bang. The two former Massachusetts recreation managers who had been charged with reckless endangerment of a child turned to the judge for justice.

The court was limited in what it could do. You see, it could not simply dismiss the charges even if it wanted to. What it could do, however, was allow the defendants a chance to end the case without guilty findings.
Continue reading

According to media reports, David Ettlinger-a second grade teacher at Newton public schools-was arrested this week on child pornography charges. Recent updates indicate that Ettlinger, 34, is now also facing charges of indecent assault of a child under the age of 14.

Several sexualized images of minors were allegedly found on the teacher’s home computer at his Commonwealth Avenue residence. Image(s) of a 12-year-old family friend, as well as a video of Ettlinger having sexual contact with a female minor, were also allegedly discovered on the laptop, which was seized by investigators. According to news reports, multiple pairs of young girls’ underwear were found in his residence as well

The Underwood Elementary School and the surrounding community are quite alarmed about the charges, but no evidence has been found that Ettlinger’s students have been victimized. Reports suggest that Ettlinger, who has taught with Newton public schools for 12 years, otherwise appears to have a clean criminal record. He was apparently a popular teacher at the school.

Attorney Sam’s Take On Martin Luther King And Credibility

In the courts of justice, whether they be criminal or civil, the issue of
credibility is always imperative. Technically, of course, I have already
mis-stated the law. This is because a person’s credibility is not considered an
issue unless that person testifies as a witness.

At least, that is what the law says. However, I am referring to reality.

As you may know, this Boston criminal lawyer has years of experience
as a lecturer and trainer of law students and new lawyers alike. What I tell
my students is that anyone who is in front of the jury has their credibility
being considered by jurors throughout the trial. This is true whether the
person is a lawyer or a witness. Whether that person is testifying…or simply sitting down with counsel. The jury is always watching.

And, be assured, it is critical to the particular cause at issue.

However, credibility is a tricky thing. It is often effected by our various
prejudices and preconceived notions.

“Sam, weren’t’ t you going to be writing to Dr. King today instead of just
pontificating about how much you know about trials?”

Yes and no. There are many lessons we can learn from Dr. King and his
experiences. And some of them have to do with the criminal justice system.
After all, he took on the establishment. He broke laws…laws we now realize
were unjust. However, it took folks like Dr. King to challenge them in order
for us to begin our path of understanding equality.

A path that has not yet come to an end, I might add.

Dr. King served time in jail. No, he was not a violent felon, a drug dealer or
drunk driver. He did, however, commit crimes that were in existence at the
time. In fact, he wrote from jail, one of the his classic works now referred to
as the “Letter From A Birmingham Jail”.
Continue reading

2011 is now history in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In preparation for the changing of the year, a group called “AboutBail” compiled a list of some of the highest bail amounts throughout the country in 2011.

Let’s take a look, changing the actual names of the defendants, at seven of the ten listed:

1.19-year-old Gary Gunplay from Elgin, Illinois. He was a “known” gang member facing nine counts of felony shootings. With cases pending, Gary was stopped during an alleged traffic violation. Outstanding warrants were discovered and, despite trying to flee, he was caught. With two loaded handguns. Bail $2,250,000

2.19-year-old Gary Grabby of Glendale, California was arrested for sexually assaulting two brothers, ages 8 and 3, while babysitting. Bail: $2,700,000

3.Dave Daddykiller was a Chicago, Illinois gentleman accused of helping another gentleman kill Dave’s father. Dave had met his pal while serving time and the two allegedly bound, gagged and killed his father. The alleged murder was also found to be a violation of parole. Bail: $3,000,000, until the parole violation hearing, when he was held without bail.

4.Sheldon Shopper of Chicago, Illinois, was accused of stabbing three people at a Walmart. Under the influence of narcotics, he is claimed to have entered the store with a nine-inch butcher’s knife and stabbing three people with it. He was charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault. Bail: $3,000,000.

5.Billy Bullets was a Knoxville, Tennessee man who was arrested for theft, aggravated assault, felony murder and first degree murder. Apparently, Mr. Bullets went to a pawn shop and asked to see an unloaded shotgun. “seeing it” ended up resulting in his loading it with ammunition he had brought with him and shooting the employee who was helping him. Bail: $4,000,000.

6.Ricky Robber was a Fayette County, Indiana gent who actually failed at his attempt at robbing a CVS store. According to the government, he wore a wig, glasses and mustache (and a gun) at the robbery scene. They also say that said items were found in the home in which he was staying…along with blood-spattered clothing and a gun that “may have” been used to murder five people. Believed to be a flight risk, bail was set at $5,000,000

7.Dilbert Diplomat was a well-known French national and former head of the International Monetary fund. He was grabbed on charges of attempted rape, sexual abuse, forcible touching, unlawful imprisonment and a criminal set act. The complainant used to be an unknown Manhattan housekeeper. His bail conditions amounted to $6,000,000

The government then dropped the charges against him because they decided the complainant was not believable..

Attorney Sam’s Take On The Rationale Of Bail

Looking at these rather high bail amounts might give you the idea that there is little, if any, consistency when it comes to the mandating of bail amounts. For example, one would expect the bail for murder to be higher than someone accused of attempted robbery or even sexual assault.
Continue reading

Hello and happy new year. Yes, the (attempted) daily Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog is back!

I hope you had a great holiday season. For some, however, it did not end so smoothly. Let’s look to Norton, Massachusetts, for one such tale. It’s results may surprise you.

At approximately 5pm on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, a 66-year-old woman was walking her two dogs. In the same southeast MA location, an off-duty state trooper was hunting deer.

The trooper mistook the dogs for deer.

So he shot the woman. She was hit in the torso.

The trooper called 911 after realizing the error; he had mistaken the trails of the two dogs for that of one deer.

While we know the woman was brought to a Rhode Island hospital, no further information about her has been released. The state police apparently performed an investigation which lasted about one day, when they announced the shooting was an accident. The trooper’s information has also been withheld because he faces no Criminal charges.

Attorney Sam’s Take On Accidental Shooting Investigations

Do you think that you would receive such a swift benefit of the doubt if you were in the the trooper’s predicament?

Last month, we discussed how what used to be considered accidents and civil matters are now being prosecuted as crimes. Not here though. It was already released that criminal charges are not expected.

“Why does that strike you as ‘interesting’, Sam? Surely you do not believe that the officer intentionally shot the woman.”

Continue reading

When we last left off, Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog was discussing an apparent shift in the criminal justice system through which people are punished for not playing the part of a government witness. I was opining that we could see more of this trend in the future.

You may be wondering what the status of such involuntary testimony is right now.

” ‘Involuntary testimony’? Sam, it can’t be that I can get arrested for not cooperating with the police about a crime that has nothing to do with me, can it?”

It certainly can. In fact, let’s look at what you mean by what “nothing to do with me” means. As far as law enforcement is concerned, any matter in which you witnessed something involves you. Given the goals of law enforcement, any potential witnesses should have to cooperate with police.

This makes sense, of course. After all, their stated goal of any criminal investigation is to solve the mysteries and catch the “bad guys” as police define them. Given that this is their primary motive, it makes sense that they feel that any reluctance on the part of potential witnesses should not be tolerated. After all, it makes their job harder and sometimes, even, impossible.

“Hey…they may be right. It kind of makes sense. Wouldn’t such a system make sense?”

Well, it might be, if not for the fact that it is contrary to certain fundamental ideals underpinning our judicial system.
Continue reading

On Monday, the Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog broke the news that Attorney General Martha Coakley was about to meet with the legislature with recommendations in connection with the legal abomination our representatives passed into law last year about Massachusetts bullying.

Ever the optimist, I actually hoped that perhaps she would arrive with recommendations that actually add some common sense to the situation after both prosecutorial and regular politicians have botched the job…for the bully and bullied alike.

Well, apparently, she thinks she did. In fact, she told the Legislature’s Education Committee yesterday that her suggested requirement would be a “common sense” follow up to the statute passed and the several subsequent high profile bullying incidents in the Commonwealth.

I agree with her. Her solution is the perfect”follow-up” to that embarrassingly worthless statute.

Her recommendation? That every case of confirmed bullying be reported to the authorities. That’s right, the police and prosecutors. Let the prosecutions begin!

Attorney Sam’ Take On AG Coakley’s Solution

My first professional response to this was something like, “no…wha…really? no really? She didn’t actually say….really?” Then, I sat and thought about it. I mused that perhaps her approach was the right one. In fact, maybe the only problem is that her approach does not go far enough.
Continue reading

This has been a sad week for Massachusetts babies.

We began the week with the story about a 13-month old boy being found dead in the back of a van. Now, as the week comes to a close, news of a 3-year-old boy from Weymouth being found dead crosses our bow. This occurred yesterday after what is being called an accident occurring while he was napping according to the Commonwealth.

According to the local district attorney’s office, the death does not appear to be suspicious, although it is still under investigation. What the mysterious accident was has not yet been announced. All we are told is that there was an adult in the home and the child was taking a nap.

It is said that medical results in the case are expected to come in today. Apparently, said result will either close the investigation…or start it anew.

The question, of course, is what do these tragic stories have to do with you?

Attorney Sam’s Take On Massachusetts Criminal Investigations Into Tragic Accidents

A Child Is Found Dead. The very thought of it upsets all of us. It upsetsMassachusetts law enforcement too. After all, they see their job as protecting the innocent. What can be more innocent than a baby? So, I suppose it is not surprising that one of the first responses to such a tragedy is “who is to blame?”
Continue reading

Your Cambridge work day is over and you return home. You are minding your own buisenss as you pick up the mail and bring it into your home.

You have received something from the Clerk’s Office in Suffolk County where you used to live. You open the envelope and find that you are being commanded to appear in court for something called an Arraignment.

You read further to find that Lisa Liar, your old flame, has claimed that you assaulted her last month. Further she says it was a Boston domestic violence incident.

Now what? Is it time to stand yourself against the wall and assume the position?

Not quite yet.

Attorney Sam’s Take On Massachusetts Criminal Summonses

No, your life is not over.

The summons that you have received indicates that a criminal complaint for Massachusetts assault has been issued against you. Yes, you need to show up for the arraignment. Yes, you have a criminal case pending against you But, no, all is not lost.
Continue reading