Articles Posted in Criminal Law

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Although it seems like the beginning of a horror novel, you know the scene pretty well by now. You are in your Massachusetts home in the evening just relaxing, watching reruns of Boston Legal. The knock come on the door and it is the police.

Before you know it, someone from the home is dragged out the door wearing the Commonwealth Bracelets of Shame. Maybe it is you.

“What is going on?”, you demand.

The police tell you that they are there “on a warrant”.

Your mind swirls. “On a warrant”. What does that mean? A search warrant? Arrest warrant? Bench warrant?

Before you can respond, it is all over. Maybe your lawyer can explain it to you.

Fear not. This lawyer can explain it to you.
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…And once again we are reminded of this year’s movie The Watchmen, where the catchphrase was “Who watches the Watchmen?” The setting is Boston’s northern neighbor, Salem, Massachusetts. The person is Marie M., 38, a former accounting clerk of Lawrence’s Probation Department (hereinafter, the “Defendant”). That’s right, the same probation department entrusted to oversee criminal defendants as they try to follow advice and role models to work their way back onto the “straight and narrow”. The Defendant’s current position is beside her defense attorney, facing charges of embezzlement in the amount of more than two million dollars.

According to the Commonwealth, the Defendant had crafted an elaborate white collar scheme that managed to elude detection for nearly three years. During her 19 years with the department, she allegedly managed to employ a host of complex accounting maneuvers to pocket approximately $12,000 a week from 2006 through this summer, when she left work amid troubling questions posed by suspicious auditors.

Last Thursday, the Defendant was in court in Salem Superior Court, facing felony charges. During the hearing, prosecutors marveled what they called an intricate and sophisticated scheme. The Defendant was apparently the only person in the department authorized to change entries in the court’s accounting system and she is said to have used this position to manipulate records and bank deposits to cover her tracks. Further, prosecutors allege that auditors who uncovered the alleged fraud had only encountered one of the Defendant’s methods (known as a “negative, non-money error reversal”) once or twice over the past 20 years.
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There is a tragic scene taking place in north of Boston city of Lynn. It is playing out on the Victim side of the criminal justice equation. It will also likely mean bad news for a particular assailant when it is time for arrest and attorney- life without parole type of bad news.

The family of Vincent G., a 30-year-old man (hereinafter, the “Victim”), faced with determinations of his being brain dead since being shot in the head Sunday morning are planning to remove him from life support.

About the shooting-turned homicide we know only a part. Apparently, at approximately 1:00 a.m. on Sunday, the Victim was shot once in the head outside Soriano’s nightclub in Lynn. His fiancée who was at the scene is said to desperately tried to keep him alive at the scene, giving him CPR as he slowly slipped away in her arms.

The Victim was taken by ambulance to Salem Hospital and then air-lifted to Boston Medical Center.

Originally, the family had hope that the Victim would survive, clinging to promising signs of his occasional blinking or coughing.

“We thought he was going to make it, but he’s brain dead,” explains a family member. “The bullet is still there in his brain and they can’t get it out because his brain is so swollen. So his mom asked us to say our last prayers because she decided to pull the plug.”
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Bruce Springsteen wrote a song claiming that “Summer is here and the time is right for racing in the street”. Well, it is not summer and the time certainly isn’t right for street speeding. The lesson, however, is a little late in the learning for 17-year-old Michelle M. of Methuen (hereinafter, the “Defendant”). Accused of drag racing in Lowell by witnesses, the young lady will be facing charges alongside a criminal defense attorney.

According to the police, the Defendant will be charged with leaving the scene of an accident causing personal injury. The injured party was a 12-year-old boy who was struck by a car during what witnesses claim to be a drag race and thrown about 20 feet. Allegedly, because leaving the scene of an accident is a misdemeanor, the Defendant is going to be summoned to court at a later date and was not arrested. She has, however, lost her license.

According to witnesses, the racers had run a red light before one of the cars struck the boy. The boy is listed in fair condition with internal and head injuries at a Boston hospital.

According to the police, the Defendant, having left the lad for dead, fled the scene and went to a Lawrence hair salon, got her hair done and then reported to the police that her car had been vandalized.
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Joseph L., 43, of Derry, New Hampshire, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) was once a happy and successful man. A father of five, he built himself up from obscurity in Brockton to the purchasing director for North Andover, Massachusetts. Now, divorced and placed on leave, he is in need of a criminal defense attorney. A court-appointed defense attorney, in fact.

The week began with his turning himself in to North Andover police upon learning that there were warrants out for his arrest.

According to the Commonwealth, the Defendant is guilty of embezzlement. Specifically, the prosecution says that, during his two years as the town’s purchasing agent, he only performed one half of his job correctly. They say he sold surplus town vehicles and snow plows on eBay (the half he was supposed to do) but that he pocketed the money himself (the half he was not supposed to do).

One must wonder how much such augmentation to his salary helped given that the court determined that he qualified for a court appointed attorney, meaning that he was without the funds to afford his own.
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19-year-old Lynn man Walter C. (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) faced Justice last week, attorney by his side, in Lawrence Superior Court. The verdict was guilty. The sentence was life in state prison. The charge was second-degree murder taking place in August, 2008. Any change of fate is now in any potential appeal.

The jury had been out for approximately four hours before returning a lesser verdict of second-degree murder – an intentional killing done with malice – instead of first-degree premeditated murder initially charged against the Defendant by the state. Immediately, the Defendant was given the mandatory punishment of life in state prison. Normally, the Defendant would be eligible for parole after serving 15 years in state prison. However, he was also found guilty of carrying a firearm and given a consecutive 30 month sentence to serve.

The Commonwealth alleges that the homicide was the result of the drug trade. They alleged that the deceased’s cousin had told the him that the Defendant had stolen $30 and several bags of marijuana. When the deceased went looking for the Defendant and confronted him, the deceased apparently shot once at the Defendant, but missed him. The Defendant then chased down the deceased and shot him in the head, killing him.

The Defendant took the stand and admitted firing the gun, but said he was being shot at and defended himself under a combat situation.
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Today’s Boston Globe tells us the tale of Corey P., 23of Dorchester (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) who now needs a good criminal defense attorney fast. He is charged in connection with a homicide in which a 24-year-old man was stabbed to death yesterday in Brighton, according to police.

This was an area where many students dwell. An officer patrolling near Brighton and Harvard avenues found the stabbing victim about 2:16 a.m. in front of a store on Brighton Avenue, according to police. The officer called for help and began to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the unconscious man. The victim was then taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he apparently died.

23 minutes after the stabbing, Boston police officers arrested the Defendant. You might think that he was arrested for actually performing the violent knife-weilding which resulted in the death.

You would be wrong Continue reading

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It’s another long weekend for many of us Bostonians starting today. That’s the good news. This means that law enforcement will be particularly aware of what is going on in the Commonwealth. That’s good and bad news, depending on your perspective. However, regardless on how you feel about it, you had best be wary of it or you will end your weekend in a courtroom hoping that your lawyer will be able to find the right words to allow you to return home by nightfall.

The police hyper-awareness on holiday weekends is routed in reality. Often, people forget the realities of their normal lives amid a long weekend of fun and frolic. For example, frolicking often involves alcohol or drugs. Drinking alcohol, and now smoking a small amount of pot, and staying put is not, in and of itself a problem. Sometimes, though, people decide not to stay put.

They may decide to go for a drive. Bingo! Operating Under The Influence…or worse. Perhaps they get a bit rambunctious and get into an altercation with someone they meet. Bongo! Assault and Battery. Maybe they are feeling generous and are taking some of their favorite drug with them to share with a buddy. Bango! Possession with intent to Distribute.
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Yesterday, we dealt with the latest celebrity crime matter, the David Letterman extortion case. Today, another white collar case is the topic, this time right from the Boston area. The crime is Larceny. That’s right, that is what Letterman’s blackmailer was charged with as well. This, however, seems to simply be about plain old-fashioned theft.

The alleged crime involves the theft of hundreds of Verizon Blackberrys and the sale of them on the internet. To date, the suspects’ rewards include hundreds of thousands of dollars collectively and one criminal defense attorney each.

“This was an extensive scheme,” the Middlesex District Attorney said in the statement announcing the indictments. “We thank Verizon for first discovering this scheme and then contacting authorities immediately…”

He estimated the alleged scam had a value in excess of $600,000.
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