Articles Posted in Murder

by

Confessions Of A Former Prosecutor – Introduction

…And so I sit to grab a moment of rest as I get home to my apartment after a day starting another trial. This time it is a rape case. Sex crimes cases are how I actually began in this work. My first year as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn was in the Sex Crimes and Special Victms Bureau.

I remember back to one night, looking around my Brooklyn Heights apartment, papers and chineese food scattered, mid-trial, taking note of my surroundings. Then I looked into a mirror, seeing Mr. Prosecutor..red-eyed, sweaty and dressed…well, let’s just say not at my best.

This is when I began thinking, “If people only knew…!”

There I was, mere months out of law school in Boston and now juggling around one hundred sex crimes cases…..all of which seemed bound for trial.

I had always loved performing, and so being a student prosecutor at Boston University Law School had been fun…but this was the real stuff. And there I lay on my couch, too tired to review a rape case that was mid-trial, yet knowing that I had to do so. All those “all nighters at school tended to pay off at such moments.

If people only knew…this is the picture of that scary prosecutor who had the power to send people to jail.
Continue reading

by

It has often occurred to me during my years as a Boston area criminal defense attorney that, once one abolishes the presumption of innocence, many efforts on the part of law enforcement become much easier.

It’s called being for “law and order” as opposed to “soft on crime” and is generally encouraged by society. Of course, it is antithetical to the United States Constitution and other laws of our country (not to mention the spirit behind them), but that’s simply a nasty nuance.

Who looks at nuances anyway?

Anyway, I have often indicated in these blogs that, while we still give lip service to the presumption of innocence, we generally accept the existing assumption of guilt.

Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis has announced that the Boston Police Department is now pursuing a new approach in finding alleged gang members. In this case, the department has released photographs of 10 unidentified young men because Commissioner Davis believes that the photographed gentlemen should be “shamed” for allegedly belonging to a gang that he contends bears responsibility for the death of a 14-year-old boy.

“We are doing this because we believe the community can play a role in making the individuals who are responsible for the execution of a 14-year-old boy outcasts in their own neighborhood,” Davis said in a telephone interview.
Continue reading

by

Today is Memorial Day, a day in which we pause to remember the fallen. Generally, we remember those who have fallen in the armed services while they were defending and protecting our country from outside threats.

I would like to take a moment to remember another category of protectors and defenders. These people, however, guard against inside threats. They are involved daily in more local battles that end up being resolved in the trenches of the courtroom. The dangers they face, however, are very real.

Joseph Galapo had been an undercover police officer with whom I worked during my days as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn, New York. At the time, I was in the narcotics bureau, happily indicting names I had been informed were the enemy in the “War Against Drugs”. That’s all they were to me then…names. The police officers who were our witnesses, however, were human beings. We saw them on a regular basis. We got to know some of them beyond the badge and thin blue line. Joe was one such guy.

Shortly after the birth of his second child, he quit working undercover because of the obvious dangers. He began to work in a safer capacity…as a uniformed narcotics investigator.
Joe was thirty years old when he was shot and killed during what should have been a routine drug bust in a typical Brooklyn Street. In the chaos of an arrest, a partner’s gun was jolted and it discharged a bullet into Joe’s head.
Continue reading

by

Chef, former Food Network personality, and cookbook author Juan-Carlos Cruz has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and solicitation to commit murder. Cruz is accused of trying to kill his wife Jennifer Campbell.

According to investigators, Cruz solicited two homeless men, David Walters and David Carrington, and tried to hire them to murder his kill Campbell. However, those close to Cruz are painting a different picture of the former TV host of the show “Calorie Commando.”

Two sources who know Cruz and Campbell say that the couple had been trying to have a child for 20 years. They even underwent fertility treatments that had proved unsuccessful. One of the sources said that Campbell had talked about killing herself but that as a Catholic she considered suicide a sin.

Another friend of Cruz’s, Amy Reiley, says the charges against him don’t make sense. Reiley is the co-author of Cruz’s book The Love Diet.” She told the Associated Press that in addition to having worked with him intensively for the last nine months she has known him for six years. Reiley describes Cruz as a doting husband.

Cruz was arrested after one of the homeless men that he allegedly approached told the authorities about their conversation. The chef remains behind bars in lieu of $2 million in bail. If convicted, Cruz could receive a lifetime prison term.

Former TV chef pleads not guilty to trying to have wife killed, Los Angeles TImes, May 18, 2010
Sources: Inability to have child behind TV chef’s murder scheme, CNN, May 19, 2010
Chef accused in murder plot seen as doting husband, AP/Google, May 20, 2010

Related Web Resource:
Juan-Carlos Cruz
Continue reading

by

22-year-old George Huguely, a member of the University of Virginia’s lacrosse team, has been arrested and charged with the first-degree murder of Yeardley Love, also age 22 and a member of the school’s women’s lacrosse team. According to police, Huguely and Love were romantically involved with each other and had just broken up.

On Monday at around 2:15 am, police were called to Love’s apartment over a possible alcohol overdose. However, Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo says that it became obvious that Love, who was found in a pool of blood in her bedroom, had experienced “obvious physical trauma.”

Police say that they found Huguely at his apartment and questioned him. He was arrested later that morning. Huguely has admitted that he and Love were having a disagreement when he shook her. He says that her head struck the wall more than once. The 22-year-old college athlete also admitted to kicking open Love’s bedroom door and taking her computer.

Huguely’s criminal defense lawyer is calling Love’s death a “tragic accident.” Prior to enrolling at the University of Virginia, the 22-year-old was a high school All-American. The university lacrosse team that he belongs to is nationally ranked No. 1 in the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association coaches’ poll.

Massachusetts College Campus Crimes
If you are a college student who was arrested and charged with committing a crime on or off a Massachusetts college campus, it is important that you obtain legal representation as soon as possible. The outcome of your Boston college campus criminal case could determine whether or not you receive federal funding to cover your education, get into the graduate school of your choice, get a good job after college, or end up with a criminal record for life.

It can be scary to know that the future you’ve been working so hard for may be in jeopardy because you are under investigation or charged with a drug crime, drunk driving, underage drinking, sexual assault, rape, murder, stalking, cyber crime, larceny, assault and battery, larceny, shoplifting, vandalism, or any other criminal activity.

UVA lacrosse player George Huguely admits fight, hiding Yeardley Love’s computer after death: docs, NY Daily News, May 4, 2010
Lacrosse player George Huguely charged in fellow U
Affidavit: Lacrosse Player Killed In Fight fter Breakup, WIBW.com

Related Web Resources:
University of Virginia

University of Virginia Men’s Lacrosse

Virginia Cavaliers
Continue reading

by

Gee, it is hard to imagine that after our protectors and law-makers have made the world safe for kids by passing the Anti-bullying bill discussed last week and prosecuted “the bad kids” as discussed ad nauseum, that kids could still be getting in trouble and even hurt! In connection, since the governor has not signed the Ant bullying Bill into law in Boston yet, how will prosecuting attorneys ever be able to prosecute the youthful wrong-doers?

Guess what? It would appear that the laws already on the books actually suffice!

For example, let’s take four Merrimack College students who have gotten into a tad of trouble at yet another underage drinking party. The partying seems to have ended when a high school student ended up with a serious head injury.

The 17-year-old girl from southeastern Massachusetts, now in the hospital, fell down stairs early Sunday morning at the party, according to a statement issued by North Andover police and Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s office.
Continue reading

by

Middlesex Superior Court Judge S. Jane Haggerty has sentenced John Odgren to life in prison without parole. Yesterday, a jury convicted the 19-year-old, who has Asperger’s syndrome and a history of mental illness, of Massachusetts first-degree murder.

The Princeton teenager fatally stabbed Lincoln-Sudbury 15-year-old James Alenson in 2007. The two boys teens didn’t know each other but they happened end up in the high school bathroom at the same time.

Odgren’s Boston criminal defense team had mounted an insanity defense, claiming that paranoia, depression, Asperger’s, and the fear of the number 19 are what compelled Odgren to attack the high school freshman. Now, his homicide lawyer is arguing that because Odgren was a juvenile when he stabbed Alenson, the life sentence he received should come with the possibility of parole. The teenager’s legal team is calling the sentence a violation of not just the Eighth Amendment but also of an international treaty that was signed by every United Nations members except for Somalia and the United States.

Massachusetts and Connecticut are the two US states where a child can be sentenced to life in prison without a parole. Citing constitutional issues, the Odgren murder defense team has filed a motion with Judge Haggerty to sentence him as a youthful offender. She has yet to rule on the motion.

Odgren is being sent to MCI-Cedar Junction, a maximum security facility in Walpole, while he waits for his permanent assignment. His criminal defense attorney wants him to stay in a mental health unit and is concerned for the 19-year-old’s well-being. People with disabilities are at risk of being victimized while in prison.

John Odgren sentenced to life in prison; lawyer concerned for safety, MetroWest Daily News, April 30, 2010
John Odgren guilty as charged, Boston Herald, April 30, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Juvenile life-without-parole sentence too harsh, reports says, Boston.com, September 30, 2009
The Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts

What’s Unique about Asperger’s Disorder?, Autism Society Continue reading

by

There were a few fireworks yesterday in Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn, Massachusetts. Attorneys argued over the topics of the defense attorney’s proposed summation. The Judge agreed with the Commonwealth and overruled the objections voiced by the defense.

The setting was Commonwealth v. John Odgren. The charge is Murder in the First Degree. We discussed this matter at the onset of the trial. Young Mr. Odgren, 19, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) now awaits a jury’s verdict in his stabbing of another youth to death in school.

The Defendant admitted to the stabbing. However, the defense is that he was not criminally responsible for the homicide because he was insane.

The debate was what the jury could be told about the result should they return a verdict that he was not guilty by reason of said insanity. The defense attorney wanted to be able to argue to the jury that, if they returned such a verdict, that the Defendant would not simply be freed to go out and kill again. This, of course, is a common misunderstanding of the law, and one that can cost a mentally handicapped person liberty-by way of state prison- for the rest of said person’s life.
Continue reading

by

As I was recovering from a blog-free week this weekend, folks in Lawrence, Massachusetts, were gearing up and creating work for various defense attorneys. In fact, according to the police, over 100 people were involved in the resulting melee.

The brawl took place in a Lawrence nightclub, Club Rio, during the wee hours on Saturday. By the time it was under control, several were injured, arrested or both. Dozens of people were injured, but medics who checked them said none of the injuries were serious enough to require hospitalization

Fourteen people now face criminal charges from the event. While the fight apparently began between a few people, more than 100 folks were participating by its end by throwing punches, kicking each other, smashing bottles and hurling chairs.

In fact, the fight was so big that Lawrence Police Chief John Romero says that every available officer had to respond to the fight, which they described as one of the most violent melees they have witnessed. It remained under investigation Sunday.
Continue reading

by

The prosecution rests in John Odgren’s Massachusetts murder trial. The 19-year-old Princeton resident fatally stabbed 15-year-old James F. Alenson, fellow student at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School on January 19, 2007. Odgren, who was 16 at the time of the fatal stabbing, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

While Odgren doesn’t deny stabbing Alenson, who he didn’t know and just happened to encounter in a boys’ bathroom that day, his criminal defense team is arguing that he cannot be held criminally responsible for his actions because he isn’t sane enough. Odgren’s Massachusetts murder attorney called him a “geeky” bully magnet who was ‘psychotic’ and ‘delusional’ when he stabbed Alenson. One witness testified that on the day that the murder happened, Odgren had watched a violent video showing cartoon characters stabbing and shooting each other and that red blood blasted out of their injuries.

Odgren has a mild form of autism known as Asperger’s and suffers from depression. He also has developmental disabilities and is mentally ill. Bipolar disorder runs in the family. His mother has it. Four of his relatives ended up committing suicide.

Odgren randomly picked Alenson as his target on the day that he came to school with a butcher knife (a 12-inch knife with a near-8 inch blade). The 15-year-old freshman sustained multiple stab wounds, including wounds to the liver, lung, and heart, and defensive wounds. He died on the bathroom floor.

Jurors in Middlesex superior Court are tasked with deciding whether Odgren is guilty of murder or should be found not guilty due to lack of criminal responsibility. Prior to Alenson’s murder, Odgren had never been in trouble with the law. He was the one who was the target of ridicule and bullying by other kids.

Classmate: Odgren said ‘I’m not going to kill you’, Boston.com, April 14, 2010
Gruesome crime scene, painful death described in Odgren, Boston Herald, April 16, 2010
Prosecution Rests In Odgren Trial, WBZ, April 16, 2010
Related Web Resources:
Asperger’s Disorder

Bipolar Disorder, National Institute of Mental Health Continue reading

Contact Information
Cambridge, MA
Main Office
675 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Phone: 617.206.1920Fax: 617.491.3299Toll Free: 800.481.6199
Boston, MA
1 State St
Suite 2
Boston, MA 02109
Phone: 617.547.1205Toll Free: 800.481.6199
Needham, MA
250 First Avenue 2nd Floo
Needham, MA 02494
Phone: 781.675.2329Toll Free: 800.481.6199

Some Select Cases are referred to other attorneys for principal responsibility

By publishing this information on this Website, the Boston, Massachusetts law firm of Altman & Altman LLP is not claiming to represent any clients or cases mentioned here. The content provided is designed to inform readers and is not intended as legal advice.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Please do not include any confidential or sensitive information in a contact form, text message, or voicemail. The contact form sends information by non-encrypted email, which is not secure. Submitting a contact form, sending a text message, making a phone call, or leaving a voicemail does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Copyright © 2024, Altman & Altman LLP
JUSTIA Law Firm Blog Design