Articles Posted in Federal Crimes

Rumor has it that the South Hadley bullying case which began with the roar of a despearate political prosecutor is going out with a wimper from her replacement who was left to clean up her messes.

You may recasll that the late Phoebe Prince was the tragic figure about whom the public was in an outcry. Ms. Prince committed suicide and it was determined that the reason was that several of her classmates were bullying her both in person and through the internet. Like a not-quite- as- sympathetic Ponchus Pilot, the area’s most senior law enforcement official, the District Attorney, abandoned her oath to “do justice” and, instead, catered to political opportunity. She took the unusual step of indicting a bunch of kids who were allegedly Ms. Prince’s bullies. This was done, of course, before the full investigation into Ms. Prince was conducted. Said inveastgation revealed a very troubled young lady who had attempted suicide long before she even got to South Hadley.

Of course, to give the indictments the proper stench, she included in the group boys with whom Ms. Prince is alleged to have had sex. They were now charged with MA statutory rape and grouped in with the bullies.

Thankfully for the cause of Justice, the political strategy backfired and that District Attorney found herself out of her job.

Now, while the defendants will still have MA felony charges on their criminal records as they attempt to continue in school or find jobs, the Commonwealth is said to be offering plea bargains which will allow five out of six of the defendants to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges and having the more serious charges dropped. It is believed that the defendants will be allowed to plead guilty to Massachusetts criminal harasssment.

Previously the defendants faced a variety of charges, including including civil rights violations causing bodily injury, criminal harassment, stalking and disruption of a school assembly.

Even the stutory rape charge will apparently be dropped against one defendant.
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Gerard Sasso, 52, of Medford, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) has made Massachusetts history. In fact, he is not only a “first” in the Commonwealth, but is a “second” in the country! Unfortunately, he will be “celebrating” in a federal prison.

Yesterday, the Defendant became the first person in the state — and the second in the nation — to be convicted for lasering an aircraft. He was convicted of charges of willfully interfering with an aircraft operator with reckless disregard for human life, and of making false statements, the US attorney’s office said in a statement.

The Defendant received the award of three years in prison for shining a laser at a State Police helicopter that was escorting a tanker through Boston Harbor, federal prosecutors said.

Apparently, the Defendant shined a powerful green laser on the helicopter on December 8, 2007. Prosecutors said the pilots were able to determine the light was likely coming from his apartment. When the police went to his apartment to investigate, he initially denied having the lasers but later confessed, prosecutors said. The green laser was recovered, along with 10 other lasers, from the apartment.

“This sentence should send a strong message that interfering with an aircraft in any way will result in aggressive prosecution and stiff sentences. Such actions endanger lives and disrupt air travel, and will not be tolerated,” quota the government.
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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has now changed its mind regarding the role of state authorities in the criminal investigation of illegal aliens. For the past few years, various states have used various tactics in the tracing of illegal aliens. They claim that the discovery of said aliens helps stem the tide of various crimes, including robbery, murder and drug trafficking. Thus, the logic goes, keeping said aliens out of the country is a valid law enforcement goal in the fight to keep us all safe.’

Until now, however, Massachusetts state officials have refused to join the cause. This has now changed. The Commonwealth will now join the federal program that screens all people who are arrested and fingerprinted to determine whether they are in the country legally. Those who are illegal will then be reported to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), which will decide whether to detain and deport them.

This step is a change for Boston’s Patrick administration, which had adamantly opposed having the State Police help enforce immigration law. In fact, one of his first acts as governor was to overturn former governor Mitt Romney’s pact with the federal government to deputize some state troopers to enforce immigration law.

The reason for the change? Well, “Over the last year we have received conflicting information from ICE relative to the program. It has become clear now that this program is going to be mandatory for all communities in the near future,” Public Safety Secretary Mary Beth Heffernan has explained. “With that knowledge we will sign the (memorandum of understanding) with ICE. We will also work closely with all communities to monitor the implementation and share with federal officials any concerns that are raised.”

Uhm….doesn’t that sort of sound like legalspeak for “It looked like we were going to have to do it anyway, so we figured we would do it before the proverbial political gun was actually pointed between our eyes so we could claim we did it willingly”?
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Sometimes, criminal justice reality in the Boston area reveals itself, as if on cue, to demonstrate points made by this daily blog. Since Friday, I have been referring to the inequality between the resources of the prosecution and the defense. Another example has presented itself during the ongoing Chuck Turner federal trial for alleged white collar crimes.

As you know, Mr. Turner is on trial in a corruption matter which was related to that of Diane Wilkerson. Thankfully for the United States Attorney’s office, Ms. Wilkerson pleaded guilty. Mr. Turner, however, has insisted the prosecution prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

As I have pointed out in the past, the federal prosecutors rarely go to trial on a matter unless they have a strong chance of winning.

This one, however, may not go so well.

You see, their chief witness, Ronald Wilburn, has indicated that he now refuses to testify for the prosecution. Last week, there was a session in which he was questioned by the judge, but the results have not been revealed. When WBZ interviewed me last week, I explained that the potential loss of said witness would not necessarily derail the prosecution so long as they had someone else to authenticate the video tape of the alleged crime.
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