Articles Posted in Murder

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Last week, the Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog spent the week discussing the issue of bullying and the over-reactive indictments paraded before a hungry audience by a local district attorney.

Today, we return to high school. This time it is another high school though. The academic institution involved this time is the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School. Yesterday, jury selection began in Woburn for the trial of John O., (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) who stands accused of stabbing a 15-year-old youth to death at the school. The Defendant was 16-years-old at the time.

The stabbing took place inside a high school bathroom in 2007.

The defense is not the typical “It wasn’t me” or, “It was self-defense”.

The defense is apparently that of diminished capacity. The Defendant was apparently a special education student who had been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild form of autism, and attention deficit disorder. More specifically, the defense says that his mental status left him unable to conform to the societal rules of behavior, especially when considering committing violent acts.
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There comes a time when any Boston criminal defense attorney is knocked almost speechless.

Almost.

Fortunately, this one can still write when that happens. It would appear that the law enforcement entities have come together and resolved several of the questions posed in yesterday’s Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog. The solution, though, reminds me of a famous escape scene from the movie “Blazing Saddles”, when the hero of the story, a black sheriff, is out-gunned and he puts his own gun to his head and says, “Make one move and the (“N-word”) get’s it!”

On the other hand…anything is possible.

I am referring to the findings announced yesterday by the Suffolk County District Attorney that 19-year old, apparently Cape Veridan, Manuel D. (hereinafter, the “Deceased”) shot himself in the head, killing himself, because police officers wanted to talk to him.
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It is always a serious situation when an officer fires his or her weapon in the Commonwealth. This one is no different. Boston Police are continuing their investigation of a police-involved shooting in the Boston area (Dorchester) over the weekend which left 19-year-old Manuel D. (hereinafter, the “Deceased”) dead. While we wait for the investigative dust to settle, we know one thing…lawyers will soon be involved.

“Based on preliminary investigation, it appears he fired on us, and officers returned fire,” said Eddy Chrispin, a Boston Police spokesman. He further related that the Deceased was part of a group of men standing on a corner who were approached by police. He is said to have fled when officers drew near at around 9:41 p.m.

An unnamed police source also relates that the officers believed the teenager was involved in some of the gun-related violence that has been plaguing the area over the last couple of weeks and was being pursued for that reason when the gunfire exchange occurred.

Well, that’s one perspective. As usual, there are others..

According to some witnesses, the Deceased had actually gone to a memorial in Dorchester for a close friend of his who had recently died. Moments after he had arrived at the memorial, the deadly shoot-out with the police occurred.

One witness who grew up with the Deceased near the site of the shooting said that he and several friends were standing by the memorial when heard two shots ring out and saw numerous police officers rush in their direction. “Then there were more shots and more shots,” the witness described. “They didn’t have to shoot him like that, 15 times. He was running away and they just kept shooting at him.”
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A judge has ruled that 12-year-old Jordan Brown will be tried as an adult for the first-degree murder of his dad’s pregnant fiancé. If convicted, he would be the youngest American to serve a lifetime in prison without parole.

Jordan is accused of using a .20-gauge shotgun to kill Kenzie Houk, who was 9-months pregnant in February 2009. She was sleeping when he shot her. Her unborn baby also did not survive the shooting.

Judge Dominick Motto called the incident an “execution-style killing.” He says his decision is based on the boy’s refusal to accept responsibility for what he did.

Jordan’s lawyers had requested that the murder case be moved to juvenile court. A psychologist for the defense had testified that the child was at “low-risk” for committing future violent acts.

Prosecutors say that Jordan killed his soon-to-be stepmother because he didn’t like the fact that he was asked to move out of his bedroom. His unborn half-brother was going to be named after his father.

Jordan’s murder trial could begin in May. The 12-year-old’s criminal defense lawyers are trying to decide whether to ask the judge to let them take the case to the state Supreme Court.

In Massachusetts, persons as young as 14 can be sentenced life in prison without parole if convicted for murder. In September 2009, up to 57 people that were also first-time offenders were serving these mandatory sentences in the state’s prisons.

If your child has been charged with a crime, an experienced Boston juvenile crimes lawyer can fight to take the case to juvenile court where the penalties are less harsh. Human Rights Watch says that sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parole is cruel and unfair. According scientific research, there are difference between adult and adolescent brains that explain why many teens often don’t comprehend the consequences of their actions.

Juvenile life-without-parole sentence too harsh, reports says, Boston.com, September 30, 2009
12-year-old boy to be tried as adult, UPI, March 30, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Juvenile Court Department, The Massachusetts Court System
The General Laws of Massachusetts
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Yesterday, a Plymouth County jury found Michael Riley, the 37-year-old dad of 4-year-old Rebecca Riley, guilty of her first-degree murder. He is sentenced to life in prison without parole. Per Massachusetts law, the verdict is going to be automatically appealed.

Michael and his wife Carolyn are accused of using psychotropic medication to control their three children. Carolyn, 35, was also charged with first-degree murder, but last month, a jury convicted her of second-degree murder.

Prosecutors accused the Rileys of making up their kids’ behavioral problems. They accused the couple of sedating their children so that they could receive benefits designated for families with disabled kids.

Rebecca and her 11-year-old and six-year-old siblings had all been diagnosed with hyperactivity and bipolar disorders. Tufts Medical Center doctor Kayoko Kifuji was the one who prescribed the strong psychiatric drugs to treat their conditions.

Rebecca had been on the drugs since she was 2. She died on December 13, 2006 from a medication overdose.

During Michael’s Plymouth County criminal trial, the South Shore dad was portrayed as a bully who was verbally and physically abusive. Prosecutors said that he would order his wife to sedate the children when he wanted them to be quiet.

However, at their respective criminal trials, the Rileys portrayed themselves as following Dr. Kifuji’s medical instructions. They blamed pneumonia, and not the medication, as the cause of Rebecca’s death. Also, Michael’s criminal defense lawyer said that his client is suffering from bipolar disorder and his only involvement with the drugs included driving the kids to doctor appointments and submitting Social Security disability benefits for his family.

Father guilty in girl’s fatal drugging, Boston.com, March 27, 2010
GUILTY: Michael Riley gets life without parole for killing 4-year-old daughter, Wicked Local, March 27, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Timeline: Rebecca Riley Murder Case, MyFox Boston
VIDEO: Riley guilty of second-degree murder in death of 4-year-old daughter, Patriot Ledger, February 9, 2010 Continue reading

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One moment. One very bad moment following a very bad decision. Boston criminal defense attorneys see it every day.

That’s all it takes to ruin, or even end, innocent lives….as well as guilty ones.

It is a lesson that we witness played out on the Commonwealth streets this past Monday. Now, here are two similar stories to show it is a lesson that is still being learned quite late.

Let’s take the case of Jonathan C. , 19, of Saugus (hereinafter, “Defendant1”) for example.

Defendant 1 spent a very painful day in Lynn District Court this past week. He is now spending time in Commonwealth housing.

Defendant 1 pleaded guilty in a vehicular homicide matter which had caused the death of one woman and severely injured another. In open court, he apologized to the family on the other side of the tragedy, explaining, “There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think of it.”
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Well, this week has not been particularly good on the streets of Massachusetts. At least three deaths in two days alone! Lots of fodder for lawyers.

“Well, of course not, Sam”, you tell me. It was raining to almost biblical proportions!”

Yes, well that ended on Monday. It’s been kind of sunny the rest of the week, which is when the deaths occurred.

For example, Bruce F., 46 of Salisbury (hereinafter, “Fatality #1”) was fatally injured when he was hit by a car after stepping into the right lane on Route 95 South in Newbury at about 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday night.
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“Sam….what gives? You tell us that the next day’s Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog is going to be an unhappy one and then you disappear for the rest of the week? You call this “daily“???”

I know, I know…sorry about that. Sometimes my responsibilities to my clients necessitate my irregular definition of the term “daily”. But, late as it may be…here is the tragic story to which I referred.

It is the tale of Geoffrey W., 31, an MIT staffer from Malden (hereinafter, the “Defendant”).

Last week, the Defendant was arrested in connection with the death of his 6-month-old son, according to Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone. He stands charged with murder
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It would appear that the people of the Boston area dodged the proverbial bullet when Professor Amy Bishop (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) moved out of state. According to Alabama law enforcement, co-faculty members were not so lucky.

The Defendant stands accused at the moment of gunning down said members at a faculty meeting whereat it was revealed that she was not going to get tenure.

But her latest problems are not her first brushes with guns, assault and the law. In fact, the more the media dig into her past, the more is learned at how she allegedly skated by criminal prosecutions a number of times. Some such skating has left Massachusetts law enforcement officials scratching their heads.

For example, one of the first stories that were revealed were about the suspicions about her connection to an attempted bombing of a professor at Harvard when she worked there. She was apparently trying to become a famous scientist (see discovery of her book from Tuesday’s blog). Her supervisor was purportedly not pleased with her work. He received a bomb in the mail after an alleged dispute with her. Clearly, the federal officials did not believe there was enough to charge her and so nothing happened.

However, a cloud of mystery seems to have developed about that situation with her brother.
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Have you heard the one about the professor who is accused of killing three colleagues at the University of Alabama on Friday? They say that Amy B., 44, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) had been a professor there since 2003. But did you know that she had come from Boston where she had other…lawyer-necessary problems?

The Defendant has made national news since last week. It would appear that she had a difference of opinion at a faculty meeting. They saw her as not tenure material. In response, she saw them as targets. At the end of the faculty meeting, she allegedly opened fire, killing three colleagues and wounding three others.

Of course, this is not the first time she has been connected with weapons in the eyes of law enforcement.

For example, in 1986, she is said to have shot her brother in the back. He died. And the charge of homicide? Well, a State Police investigation report has been released that shows that they had determined that the shooting was merely an accident.

I’ve seen people convicted for lesser accidents!
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