Articles Posted in Criminal Law

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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 have been coming down in cases ranging from fraud, to bribery, to sexual assault…and beyond.

Today, let’s look at an on-going sentencing struggle in federal court. it is the case in which the fate of former state senator Dianne Wilkerson is still being battered about like a piñata although she pleaded guilty months ago. As I have mentioned in the past, federal sentencing is a complicated process, complete with its own book of rules and guidelines as well as the consideration of virtually anything under the sun including the alleged existence of potential uncharged crimes.

Ms. Dickerson was supposed to be sentenced this week pursuant to her plea bargain. However, a hearing as to new allegations (supposedly committed long before her plea bargain) was held. At the hearing, the court heard testimony from a Dorchester businessman that Ms. Dickerson had pressured him to pay her several thousand dollars from 2002 to 2006 to help relieve her financial problems and that he complied because he thought it would give his multimillion-dollar development proposal in her district a boost.

“I felt it couldn’t hurt me in moving my project along,” testified businessman Azid Mohammed, who prosecutors say paid Wilkerson $6,700 in checks and cash. He testified in US District Court during an unusual evidentiary hearing that sets the stage for Wilkerson’s sentencing next month in a bribery case. But he added, “No, I didn’t want to make those payments.”

By the way, in case you are wondering, there is no news of his being charged with anything such as offering or paying the bribe..
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Last Friday, I told you that I was originally going to blog about a Massachusetts sex offender who had gotten arrested for urinating at an MBTA stop. If you are unaware of the gentleman’s story, you can read about it here as reported by our news-blogger. It may have made you wonder about what passes for logic amongst Massachusetts sex offenders.

Well, now comes a story that would indicate that it is right there with other deep thinkers in the rest of the country.

This story comes to us from Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin.

People care about each other in Whitefish. Even federal employees, who sometimes get a bad rap for being anti-social, for example postal workers, care. Further, sometimes such people are not thought to have a sense of humor. Well, this is not true in Whitefish.

Enter a certain 52-uear-old postal carrier (hereinafter, the Defendant”). He was concerned about a 21-year-old woman whom he sees on his regular rounds. You see, she apparently had been seeming “stressed out”. Naturally, the Defendant wanted to relax her and cheer her up.

Now, what could be more natural than that?
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On Friday, I told you that there were two decisions handed down by Boston’s Supreme Judicial Court that I wanted to address with you. The first, having to do with a murder conviction, had to do with jury bias. The second has to do with the topic of DNA and the statute of limitations, particularly in cases involving rape and other sex crimes.

It also has to do with hypocrisy.

The SJC has now ruled that prosecutors can indict suspects known only by their DNA profiles and bring them to “”justice years later when police identify who the genetic material belongs to, even if the statutes of limitation have lapsed.

This was a big decision and is being regarded by many as the next logical step in our evolving criminal justice system of the 21st century. It is the first decision of its kind in Massachusetts. The Court concluded that a DNA profile is an “indelible ‘bar code’ that labels an individual’s identity with nearly irrefutable precision.” As such, it can serve as the identity of the person indicted, even though the charging document lists the unknown defendant as “John Doe”.

The ruling is consistent with the state of the law in several other states.

You see, the issue here is the statute of limitations applicable to various matters. Said statute sets a time bar, similar to civil matters, within which a case can be brought against a particular defendant. Every crime has a statute of limitations except in cases of murder. There is no statute of limitations on murder.
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I really hate to throw a damper on a celebration. Recently, the Boston Globe touted the good news that Massachusetts criminal and child welfare caseloads in the state’s juvenile courts have fallen sharply over the past three year. According to these statistics, economic turmoil that has placed enormous strain on many families has failed to yield more negative results and the dramatic decline is confounding social workers, lawyers, and child and family advocates.

I am not really so counfounded.

Of course, as soon as such news comes out, the powers that be begin patting themselves on the back for a job well done. After all, when success is in the air, everyone grasps at it as if it were the beloved child of their own hard work. Failure, on the other hand, remains an orphan, spawned by “them”…whomever “they” are.

Massachusetts juvenile courts handle three major categories of cases. The most common are delinquency cases. They deal with criminal offenders under the age of 17. Juvenile judges also hear petitions involving abused or neglected children, and review cases involving youth who are in trouble at school or home or regularly running away. Apparently, since 2007,the number of such matters in juvenile court has decreased.

So I guess kids lucky enough to live in the Commonwealth have little to be afraid of, right? After all, that would be well timed given the onslaught of cases which is likely to soon deluge the courts due to Massachusetts’ new bullying law.

But I digress. We were talking about the recent past, not the near future.
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A Boston man was arrested Sunday morning. He was charged with breaking into a tow truck in Brighton. He was carrying a large attitude and a strong desire to re-invigorate the “Let’s Do Everything Possible To Make Matters Worse” club.

Of course, William Ashmore, 36 (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) had his reasons. After all, his vehicle had been towed and, according to law enforcement, the towing company was refusing to give it back to him.

Now, to be fair…they had a point of view too. They wanted him to pay the required fee first.

When the police came to investigate, the Defendant ordered that they release the vehicle to him. When they explained that he had to pay the fee first, he is said to have begun disparaging the officers.

Apparently, said communications included questioning of the officers. Questions included tidbits like, “I went to college … what did you do?”
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I don’t know…maybe it’s me. Maybe the fact that I have been walking around with only one eye lately has so skewed my vision that I am simply losing my perspective. But, while my blogs are temporarily reduced in number, I am still going to court. I am still handling the alleged rapes, murders, robberies and all the other fun stuff that keep my professional life going. I also notice the news of events in which I am not engaged.

Just yesterday, I was in a district court and found myself on the other side of an argument which I often have with prosecutors. My client and a buddy of his had been arrested for a number of things, including breaking and entering, trespass and theft. My guy was getting a decent deal, but the Commonwealth wanted a guilty finding against him. His buddy was getting a continuance without a finding (such as we discussed earlier this week). Said buddy had been arrested previously not only for the same thing, but from the same complainant. That prior case had been dismissed.

So, I argued with the prosecutor that if he got a CWOF, my client (who had not been implicated in that prior offense) should get one too. The ADA pointed out that my client had a prior criminal record and his co-defendant didn’t. I referred to the earlier case that the co-defendant had and the prosecutor simply shrugged and said, “yes, but that was dismissed”.
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Sometimes it is tough to know what to believe in. This supposedly daily Boston-based criminal law blog has been posted only three times a week the past few weeks. Politicians are being indicted and convicted for white collar crimes. And now, Matthew J. Amorello, the former chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, admits to drunken driving resulting in the August crash, allegedly passed out during booking and then disappearing for a day or so from the face of the Earth. And what about the criminal justice system itself? Does it give Mr. Amorello (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) special treatment?

Many will be complaining that he did get special treatment.

After all, upon his admission, he was merely ordered to give up his license for 45 days, attend alcohol awareness classes, and pay more than $500 in fines. In fact, the judge did not even impose a guilty finding!

The Defendant admitted, “Simply stated, I made a horrible mistake. Today I took responsibility for my actions.” Speaking of the ordeal, he further stated, “I want to close this chapter of my life and start moving forward and will do that with the love and support of my family, my friends. It’s been a difficult time and it’s time to get up and dust myself off and get back to being Matt Amorello.”
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Today’s tale takes us to the town of Quincy, where a local gentleman is having issues with the criminal justice system. His issues surround his driving license. You see, it had been revoked three times. Now, he faces a plethora of criminal charges, including Operating Under The Influence.The gentleman, Rony S. Santos-Cruz, 24, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) has entered a not guilty plea in Quincy District Court and posted $1,000 cash bail to regain his freedom in his latest crash into the judicial system.

According to Assistant District Attorney Erin McFarland of Quincy, the Defendant, while under the influence, struck four vehicles. Oh, and he was driving while his license was revoked. Again. She also explained during arraignment that the Defendant admitted to driving the blue Buick involved in the accidents, and that the vehicle he was driving had severe front end damage, including a blown tire and several dents and scratches.

Apparently, when asked where he was going and where he had come from, the Defendant answered , “home”.

I imagine it was simply a round trip to the parked cars and back.

Allegedly.
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As we end our Thanksgiving celebration for 2010, the Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog brings you yet another reason to be grateful. We, as a society, have made another step forward in the cause of equality. This blog being what it is, of course, that stride involves the criminal justice system. More specifically, it is in the genre of Massachusetts robberies.

We break this “good” news with the story of Cheryl Fitzgerald (hereinafter, the “Defendant”), a young lady who, on September 22nd, is alleged to have entered the Hometown Bank in Webster wearing a New England Patriots cap and giving the teller a note stating “Give me the money. No dye packs.”

The Defendant was arrested on November 7th in Daytona Beach, Florida, and then extradited back to the Commonwealth. Finally, she was arraigned in Dudley District Court and ordered held on $5,000 bail. She stands charged with unarmed robbery and larceny over $250. Since the robbery was of a bank, she could also end up facing charges in federal court.

The investigating detective, Webster police detective and 17-year police veteran James T. Hoover, recognized this robbery as a breakthrough of sorts. He explained, “I have had 15 bank robberies in my career and that is my first woman…that (bank robbery) was our fourth one this year.”

But, a man of the times, Detective Hoover said that the fact that the suspect was a woman was not really much of a shock.
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William Shakespeare would have been puzzled with this one. As you have probably noticed, the news in the Boston area lately has been replete with shootings, murders and other varying assaults. Some are alleged drug-related. Others come from domestic violence matters.

Lynnfield, however, was the host of a murder-suicide this week over a name. You see, Joseph Cummings (hereinafter, “Alleged Shooter”) was excited in East Boston not so long ago. His girlfriend was pregnant and he was about to become a father.

He was a happy man.

Said happiness is said to have faded within the next two hours.

Authorities now say that Alleged Shooter, 51, then got into an argument with his 35-year-old girlfriend about the baby-to-come’s last name when he got home to Lynnfield.
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