Articles Posted in Murder

Last night, I dreamt that I was representing a gentleman who had been accused of murder. His name was Kyle Killer. In the dream, we were heading off to trial. You know…the trial is the place where the government has to prove each element of every crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt. Unless and until they do that, or so the judge advises juries, the defendant is considered innocent.

As Kyle and I entered the courthouse, we noticed the court calendar posted to the wall. On the calendar, the day’s pending matters were written. We looked under “K” and read the caption for Kyle’s case. It read “Commonwealth vs. the murderer Kyle Killer“.

Kyle looked at me in disbelief. “They already have me convicted”, he said.

Having no clever retort available, I woke up.

Ok, so I did not have that dream. Instead, I woke up to another matter in which we have accepted that any presumption of innocence is understood to be a farce. While he has not been convicted of any of the crimes pending (or newly dismissed upon his return to Massachusetts), the media accounts relating to the case already have him convicted as a “mobster” and the “former leader of the Winter Hill Gang”.

Obviously, once again, Attorney Sam’s Take is referring to the case of James “Whitey” Bulger. His attorneys are moving the court once again for more time to prepare for trial.
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Many people do not understand how easy it is to be considered tampering with intimidating a witness or such similar Massachusetts crimes. Particularly during a murder trial.

Take, for example, Methuen’s Cesar Jimenez, 33 (hereinafter, the “Defendant”). He is a gentleman who has now been accused of threatening a witness in a murder. The basis is that the Defendant was apparently overheard by police officers muttering, in spanish, the words “snitch” or “whistleblower” near a witness.

It turns out that the son of the Defendant’s girlfriend, 24-year-old Daniel Lee Lopez, is one of two men on trial for the murder of a Chinese food deliveryman in 2009. Lopez and 20-year-old Ronny Ramos allegedly lured the man with a fake order, then assaulted him and robbed him as he lay dying, according to reports.

The Defendant was arrested and ordered to stay away from Salem Superior Court until an ongoing trial’s conclusion.

He was also held on $10,000 bail.

Attorney Sam’s Take On Intimidation Of Witnesses

Like the crime of Disorderly Conduct, Intimidation Of A Witness is a criminal charge which can mean many things. Those things can include allegations which you would never expect to have any potential intimidation effect to any witness.
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Some of the most vital lessons a criminal defense attorney can learn are only learned through experience. Today, the lead attorney for accused mass murderer and FBI informant James “Whitey” Bulger demonstrated one such lesson.

I have discussed this case many times both on the radio and in my daily Attorney Sam’s Takes. The rapidly approaching trial date is, and has been, at issue.

The main issue of today’s hearing was the attempt by Bulger’s team, led by J.W. Carney, to gain the public release of evidence which the defense says is necessary to prepare for Bulger’s defense for his murder trial.

That argument was fairly successful.

At one point, however, Attorney Carney was accused by the court of “grandstanding”. Apparently, the allegation came after Carney mentioned once again that he does not really have enough time to fully prepare for trial by the currently scheduled date.

As mentioned, this is not a new complaint.

While Carney did not really move the court to move the current court date, United States District Court Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler told him, “The trial date remains firm”.

This apparently led to a heated debate, during which Carney cut the judge off.

The judge reminded Carney not to cut her off.

Carney’s first response was, “I’m interrupting your interruption.”

This type of thing happens more than you might think it does. Judges and attorneys often clash because of their respective positions and, as with all human beings, sometimes tempers get the best of us.

Apparently immediately realizing that he had crossed the line, Carney said, “Respectfully your honor. I’m sorry for saying that.”
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Murder, rape and robbery. Perpetrators, heroes and victims. Sometimes there is a clear deliniation between them.

Sometimes there isn’t.

Today, September 11th, Attorney Sam’s Take will take you to a story similar to the horror of that day in 2001 in that the crimes are horrible and the words “victim” and “hero” are interchangeable. In fact, the term “perpetrator” is also blurred.

The case comes from New Jersey. There, a 6-year-old boy whose throat was slashed by an intruder high on PCP-laced marijuana was killed trying to save his sister. He was coming to her aid as she was being assaulted on the floor,according to law enforcement.

Thirty-one-year-old Osvaldo Rivera (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) has been charged with the who is charged in the middle-of-the-night attack. He was held on $5 million bail.

During an interrogation, the Defendant is said to have asked, “How bad did I hurt them?”

Both children had been sleeping downstairs when the attack begain according to law enforcement. The girl, 12 years of age, says that she had also been raped by the Defendant. When her brother intervened, she ran out of the house for help. her windpipe had been slashed. Nevertheless, she was able to help lead the police to the Defendant.

He was found hiding between a mattress and bedroom wall. Police say they also found blood-stained sneakers that matched bloody footprints in the home where the children were assaulted.

 The Defendant has been charged with murder and attempted murder, but prosecutors said more charges will be filed. Authorities said he had a drug arrest in 2009 but no other convictions.

The Defendant is also said to have been under the influence of marijuana and PCP. The police suspect that there is somethng in this brand of PCP which creates users hallucinatory, incoherent and exhibiting violent outbursts. In fact, this matter is the second such incident reported. Less than two week prior, a Camden woman decapitated her 2-year-old son, called 911 to admit stabbing the child, then killed herself.
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You have no doubt been following the case of the 26-year-old lad shot and killed by Boston police officers earlier this week. His name has now been revealed by his apparent stepfather as Burrell Ramsey-White. We will simply refer to him as the “Deceased”.

As you probably already know, the Deceased was being pursued by the Boston officers on Tuesday night. According to law enforcement, the officers “followed” the Deceased into the South End. There, the Deceased is alleged to have run from a traffic stop, refused to drop a gun and then pointed it at officers. The officers say they fired a single round into the Deceased’s chest and he died.

Some folks, however, have their doubts.

“No doubt. My son’s not a gun-toter,” said Paul Sheffield, who identified himself as the Deceased’s step-father.

Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis (he of “I don’t know what happened, but I can tell it was gang related” fame from last week) said that he didn’t have details of what prompted the traffic stop which began the confrontation between officers and the Deceased. However, he was able to add that the Deceased had been at a Roslindale house party on Canterbury Street earlier this month where 34-year-old Jemald Allen was shot and killed. Now, Commissioner Davis says he “can’t say” if the Deceased had been involved in that shooting, but, you know…just sayin’…

Well, Mr. Sheffield feels that he can say that the Deceased had nothing to do with that shooting. However, he claims that the police were really investigating the Deceased for that murder. “They followed him and they chased him,” he claimed.

Hmm. Need more dirt of suspicion thrown onto the Deceased which Commissioner Davis “can’t say” means anything?

No problem.

Davis also announced that the Cadillac the Deceased had been driving had been used by a different man who had been arrested Saturday night on Maxwell Street on charges including heroin possession. The police are investigating whether there is any connection between the men.

Yes, that must be important to understand while figuring out why the police shot the Deceased.
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An attorney for the Dorchester man accused in a murder made a new allegation in yesterday’s closing speech. Rosemary Scapicchio, the attorney representing one of two defendants being charged with first-degree murder, argued that the Boston police officer who was called as a key witness in the case is lying about what he saw in order to be seen as a hero. The murder of Nicholas Fomby-Davis, a 14-year-old who was pulled off his scooter and shot to death on May 30, 2010, has brought Joshua Fernandes, whom Scapicchio is representing, and Crisostomo Lopes to trial at Suffolk Superior Court.

Scapicchio delivered a 30-minute argument, during which time she accused prosecutors of failing to prove Fernandes’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. According to The Boston Globe, she argued that Officer Anthony Williams was too far from the shooting and “not in a position to clearly see what he claimed to have seen.” She also added that none of the other witnesses called could corroborate his account.
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Cornell Smith, the alleged killer of 22-year-old Rebecca Payne, was arraigned yesterday on first-degree murder charges in Suffolk Superior Court and ordered held without bail. Although the murder took place on May 20, 2008, Smith was not indicted until April of this year. He is currently serving a 12-year sentence at a federal prison on unrelated drug charges.

Rebecca’s parents, Nicholas and Virginia Payne, were also in court today and were visibly distraught after seeing Smith for the first time. According to prosecutor Ian Polumbaum, the murder occurred as a result of mistaken identity, as Smith had been involved in a fistfight a few days earlier with someone who resembled Payne. According to prosecutors, on the day of the murder, Smith arrived at her apartment around 2:30 a.m., climbed up a balcony, found his way into her apartment and shot her multiple times. Smith’s defense attorney argues that his client was himself a victim of mistaken identity and did not shoot Payne.
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A judge has ordered that George Zimmerman, the man charged with killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, return to jail within 48 hours after revoking his bond on the grounds that his wife, Shellie, misled the court. Zimmerman, who is pleading not guilty to the charge of second-degree murder and claiming self-defense, was accused of shooting Martin in February in the gated community of Sanford, Fla., where Zimmerman acted as a neighborhood watch volunteer.

According to the Miami Herald, Zimmerman’s wife testified that the couple had limited funds available and were unable to meet the $150,000 bond that had been set back in April. Prosecutors reportedly discovered that he raised $135,000 from a website he had set up for himself.
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The Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog is often complaining that Constitutional rights and criminal justice incidentals like the presumption of innocence are often ignored once a person is accused of a crime. I stand by those complaints, but I often add the proviso that this tends to change somewhat when the matter goes to trial.

This is where these rights get taken a bit more seriously. Particularly after the trial if it appears something serious went wrong.

The case of Gary Lee Sampson (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) has hit the media again. The Defendant was accused, and convicted, of the murder of three people in Massachusetts and New Hampshire during a bloody killing spree.

After the jury found the Defendant guilty, it sentenced him to death. While the Death Penalty does not presently exist in Massachusetts state law, it still is very much alive in the federal justice system..

Before our government could kill the Defendant, however, a little bug in the criminal justice ointment came to light. There existed a real question as to whether the Defendant had received a fair trial.

After a hearing, Boston United States District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf found that a female juror, whom His Honor would only identify as “C”, “persistently committed perjury” when she did not disclose during jury selection that she had been a victim of domestic abuse. Had she simply been honest, Wolf said, “She would have been excused for cause.”

Today’s order affirms a decision Wolf made in October, and potentially lines Sampson up to be retried, but only to determine if he will be executed or condemned to a life behind bars.

“A second hearing to determine whether Sampson should live or die will be lengthy, expensive, and anguishing for the families of Sampson’s victims,” Wolf said. “It is, therefore, appropriate to give the First Circuit the opportunity to decide whether the decision that a second sentencing hearing is legally required is now appealable.”, Wolf wrote.

In other words, the prosecution could appeal the judge’s decision.
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…And the Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog begins the week with a bit of horror out of Burlington, Massachusetts.

According to authorities, Christopher Plantedosi (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) was the featured player in this particular piece of massive ugliness. He is said to have pursued his ex-girlfriend, Kristen Pulisciano, into their daughter’s bedroom and having stabbed her 34 times. The homicide was witnessed by someone who actually was not there.

The witness was someone with whom the daughter had been video chatting with on an iPad.

The details were delivered by the Commonwealth at the Defendant’s arraignment yesterday in Woburn District Court. The prosecutor explained that said witness both saw and heard portions of the attack, including Ms. Pulisciano pleading, “Chris, please stop, I love you,” and the Defendant saying, “You’re going to die.”

Ms. Pulisciano’s body was found at about 6:45 p.m. Thursday at her home on Forbes Avenue.

Prosecutor Nicole Allain gave more gruesome details. She argued that the Defendant showed up at the home at 6 p.m., while the 15-year-old-daughter was in her bedroom video chatting on an iPad with a friend. The girl heard her parents arguing in the kitchen and went to see what was wrong. Seeing her father with a knife, she asked, “What, are you trying to kill Mom?”

The cold answer was forthcoming.

The Defendant then chased Ms. Pulisciano, who fled to her daughter’s bedroom. The Defendant is said to have kicked down the door and attacked Ms. Pulisciano. The person the daughter had been video chatting with was still on the line as he plunged. It was not clear where the daughter was during the attack.

The Defendant is described as having used both a meat cleaver and a knife in the slaying, Allain said.

As background, the Commonwealth indicates that the Defendant and Ms. Pulisciano had a long-standing, live-in relationship that had recently become problematic. Over the course of their relationship, there had been prior allegations of violence made by Ms. Pulisciano against the Defendant. The Commonwealth also revealed that Ms. Pulisciano had tried to commit suicide in days prior to the attack and had been released from a mental health facility the day before the attack with prescriptions for antidepressants and sleeping pills.

Making the case just alittle more macabre, the Defendant was taken into custody at the Weston State Police barracks on Friday. At the time, he apparently had two handwritten notes describing details of the attack.

The Defendant was held without bail.

Attorney Sam’s Take On Domestic Violence, Murder And Insanity

In many ways, this seems to be the classic fact scenario which brought us to the point where we are today. I am referring to how serious any allegation, no matter how big or small, of domestic violence is treated by the Commonwealth. It is also why, in most cases, once the original complaint is made, prosecutors are extremely reluctant to drop charges when the complainant comes in and explains that she wants to withdraw the complaint.
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