Hello and happy new year! I wish I could be starting the year off with a happy story…but this is, after all, a criminal law blog.
Springfield authorities have announced their recent bust which took place on Saturday night. According to the Boston Herald . the police say that the heroin seized was marked with the infamous “Hollywood” stamp.
The “Hollywood’ stamp indicates that it is the “brand” of heroin that is running rampant through western Massachusetts.
You have seen the headlines. You have heard the newscasts.
Sometimes it almost seems like there is a war going on between regular civilians and local police departments. Sometimes, it is law enforcement who ends up the victim of a homicide. Other times, it is the civilian.
Is there a way to stem this tide? More importantly to this particular blog, is there any way to protect you from its result?
This case brings back memories that we have discussed with you not so long ago.
The case is pending in Attleboro. The criminal allegation? Vehicular Homicide.
26-year-old Arman Chaudhary (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) from Lynn is the driver in question.
The Boston Herald tells us that the Defendant is accused of driving more than 100 miles per hour, ending his trip by way of a tragic collision. A fatal collision.
The ever-photogenic Michelle Carter, the Connecticut teen accused of assisting in her boyfriend’s 2014 suicide, and hereinafter referred to as the “Defendant”, is in the news again.
You may remember the Defendant. In fact, the good folks at Altman & Altman, llp posted a blog in my absence about the case on September 9th.
In summary, the Defendant, now 18-years-old but 17 at the time at issue, is accused of involuntary manslaughter. The Commonwealth has alleged that she helped to cause the death of Conrad Roy III, although he, in fact, committed suicide.
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Prosecutors handling the case for Michelle Carter, a young teen accused of assisting in her boyfriend’s 2014 suicide, have officially charged her with involuntary manslaughter following a hearing for her case in Massachusetts juvenile court. Michelle Carter, who was 17 at the time of Conrad Roy III’s suicide, now 18, was charged after prosecutors found that her correspondence with Roy leading up to his death encouraged the young man to take his own life even after he had expressed doubts to Carter. And while prosecutors will now face the difficult task of proving that these text messages exchanged between the two did in fact contribute to Roy’s death, they feel as though Michelle Carter should be held responsible to some degree for the role that she played in this tragic loss of life.
Prosecutors included multiple text message examples in their written response to the ruling that highlighted what they felt adequately showed how Carter “assisted by urging him (Conrad Roy III) to overcome his doubts about taking his own life, pressuring him to do it and even telling him to get back in his truck after becoming frightened that the plan was working.” And while Carter’s attorney, Joseph Cataldo, has stated that Roy acted consciously to orchestrate his own death and would have done so regardless of what Carter had said, those involved in the case do not agree with Cataldo’s notions.
According to a statement provided by Conrad Roy’s aunt, Becki Maki, his family felt as though Roy was turning his life around following a previously unsuccessful attempt at suicide in which Roy ingested pain killers in an effort to take his own life. He had spent time in a psychiatric hospital following the incident and was positively looking forward to the new chapters in his life. He graduated from high school and was in pursuit of his sea captain’s license. His family truly believed that Conrad Roy was starting to see the light again following his periods of darkness. Roy’s grandfather, also named Conrad, has said that Michelle Carter “…shut the light off,” for the young man and his family when she encouraged Conrad Roy III to take his own life in July of 2014.
A man from Northampton, Massachusetts is facing charges for allegedly trying to poison and kill his sickly 7 year old daughter with drain cleaner. Reports have indicated that the young girl has been suffering from an illness for an unnamed period of time, and that this may not be the man’s first attempt at harming his daughter.
Christopher Conley, 32 years old, has pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him in Hampshire Superior Court on Wednesday. He has officially been charged with attempted murder and assault and battery on a child among other charges. Following his hearing in Hampshire Superior Court, Conley was held on $100,000 bail. An additional court date has not been made available at this time.
According to preliminary reports, authorities believe that Christopher Conley poured Liquid-Plumr into a tube that connected to the young girl’s stomach. The tube connects her stomach to her intestines for an undisclosed illness she has reportedly been suffering from for quite some time. The young girl is described as being “chronically ill” and authorities believe that Conley poured the drain cleaner into the tube in an effort to end the child’s suffering. As a result of doing so, however, the young girl had to undergo a seven hour procedure in April to repair the damage the cleaner had inflicted. Doctors had to remove two-thirds of her small intestine as well as part of her bladder. She has remained hospitalized since the incident occurred. There were no apparent updates on her condition available at the time of the initial article’s release. Continue reading
A teenager from Plainville, Massachusetts is being charged with involuntary manslaughter following the disturbing discovery of text messages she exchanged with her boyfriend before his suicide in July of 2014. Michelle Carter allegedly encouraged her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, to commit suicide despite his fears and concerns about following through with the action. Carter’s attorney, Joseph P. Cataldo, maintains that she was merely exercising her right to free speech—and that Conrad Roy’s plans to commit suicide allowed to her to become brainwashed by the idea as well.
Conrad Roy III committed suicide on July 12, 2014 in the parking lot of a Kmart store in Fairhaven. His body was discovered by police the next day. A few days prior to his death, Roy purchased a generator at a nearby Sears at the encouragement of Michelle Carter, to aid him in his attempt to die via carbon monoxide poisoning. He affixed a gas-powered water pump to the inside of his pickup truck and waited for the carbon monoxide to take effect. According to reports and phone records, Roy stepped out of the car at one point when he felt as though the poison was taking over and became nervous. It was at this point that Michelle Carter told Conrad Roy to “get back in” to the vehicle and he obliged. A short time later, Roy was dead.
Following the discovery of Roy’s body inside the pickup truck, Michelle Carter exchanged text messages with a friend named Samantha in which she stated “Like, honestly I could have stopped it,” and went on to say that she had been on the phone with Conrad when he stepped out of the cab to question his decision. But despite knowing that she could have dissuaded him from following through with this choice—Carter encouraged him onward anyway; an action that was seemingly commonplace for her in the months prior to Conrad’s death.
Busy night last night in the greater Boston area…in terms of shootings.
At last count, five deaths took place. Others were left wounded.
WBUR and WBZ told me the news earlier this morning.
There were shootings at 12 Ernst Street in Roxbury. Two died earlier this morning. One neighbor told WBZ NewsRadio 1030’s Karen Twomey that the suspect in Roxbury “just came up and started shooting.” Boston police believe the victims in Roxbury were targeted and that the shooting was gang-related.
Jurors in Suffolk Superior Court found Edwin Alemany guilty of first-degree murder and 15 other counts, including premeditated murder, for the killing of Amy Lord. Alemany was also found guilty of attacking two other women before and after killing Lord.
In July of 2013, Alemany kidnapped Lord from outside her South Boston apartment and forced her to withdraw money from several ATM machines. Prosecutors said he then raped her and stabbed her more than 75 times. He then dumped her naked body in Hyde Park and set her car on fire.
Well, the trial of 26-year-old Michael Stallings from Boston (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) is over. While it ended in a conviction, the defense is likely counting it as a “win”.
The Defendant was acquitted of the top count, Murder in the First Degree, but convicted on the lesser charges of Involuntary Manslaughter and gun possession.
The facts arose out of a sadly frequent scene we have all heard about. Gang violence. Gang warfare.
The Defendant claims that someone from a rival gang began shooting at him on a street in January 2012. The Defendant fired back into a crowd of people. His spray of bullets did not hit anybody, but obviously caused some folks to flee.
One of said “folks” was Kelvin Rowell. He was 40 years old and at the proverbial “wrong place, wrong time”. No connection to the gang violence.
He did have asthma though.
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Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog