Articles Posted in Murder

Do you think you have been having a bad week?

Well, you are invited to compare yours to that of 43-year-old Jose Luis Tejada (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) of Lawrence. As the third anniversary of his shooting his girlfriend and two kids (Labor Day, 2011) approaches, his Salem murder trial has ended. After deliberating five hours, the jury found him guilty. On Tuesday, he was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences.

Judge Howard Whitehead presided over the trial in Salem Superior Court and, at the sentencing hearing, called the killings “barbaric and evil”. Three family members of the deceased mother and teens also gave emotional impact statements to the court.

On Tuesday, the son of longtime Boston Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy, Jared Remy (35 years of age and hereinafter, the “Defendant”), pleaded guilty in Woburn. He pleaded guilty to the murder of his girlfriend, Jennifer Martel (hereinafter, the “Deceased”) back in August, 2013.

He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

There was no plea bargain for a lesser sentence; there couldn’t be. He pleaded guilty to, among other charges, First Degree Murder. He received the mandated sentence for the murder as well as concurrent prison sentences for the remaining charges.

A Brockton couple are facing criminal charges in relation to a very sad domestic violence incident which led to the death of a 4-year-old child.

The death is being prosecuted as a Massachusetts murder.

Antonio Durham, 32, is charged with causing the death of his girlfriend’s young son. Tania Merisca, the 27-year-old mother of the boy has been charged as an accessory after the fact. Her case serves as a logical follow-up to the 3-part topic we just finished discussing in this blog.

Two things about which I have warned you many times have come into play in Lynn. 18-year-old Jacquan McKenzie (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) is facing the results right now.

On January 12, the Defendant was observed fleeing from the area of a homicide. The homicide was the shooting death of 29-year-old Henry Aquino. A criminal investigation ensued.

This triggered warning number one, namely “if the police are coming to talk to you, do not try to out talk, out fight or out run them.”

If you were around Danvers Wednesday morning, you knew there was something very wrong. Schools were closed and all that was said was that there was a murder investigation taking place.

It turned out that the investigation was into the murder of 24-year-old math teacher Colleen Ritzer (hereinafter, the “Deceased”). Her body was found just after midnight in the woods near Danvers High School. Inside the school, in a second-floor bathroom, blood was found.

Soon, 14-year-old freshman Philip Chism (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) would be charged with her murder.

Sometimes, it is all in how you define the word.

Ryan Welch, 38, of East Hampton, is hereinafter referred to as the “Defendant”. He also stands accused of the Massachusetts murder of his girlfriend. His trial in Hampshire Superior Court was set to begin on Monday.

It didn’t.

It may have happened in Washington, and this may be the Boston criminal lawyer blog, but we have seen such stories from all around the country…including Massachusetts.

I am referring to the former Navy reservist, 34-year-old Aaron Alexis (hereinafter, the “Shooter”). The Shooter is dead now, of course. Along with at least 12 other people after yesterday’s mass murder at what was supposed to be a secure military facility.

As is typical, chaos ensued during and just after the shootings. At first, there were thought to be co-conspirators. There was a rush to lock down part of the nation’s capital. Witness accounts had to be taken.

The trial of George Zimmerman for homicide was a Florida case. As you know, I practice criminal law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As we have discussed in the past, however, certain legal concepts are the same (except for some particular details) throughout the country.

The concepts of homicide and self-defense are two such concepts. So is the suggested reluctance to second-guess a jury by folks who were not present at the trial and simply rely upon media accounts to arrive at their own judgment. The killing of Trayvon Martin, of course, has resonated throughout the nation.

And now, so has the verdict.

The debate is still raging about the deeds and fates of folks who revealed the secrets and procedures of government entities. Some say they revealed information that we already knew, i.e., that the government spies on us. Without taking a stand on that particular minefield, this Boston criminal lawyer brings you an interesting example about folks and recorded telephone calls.

As you know, James “Whitey” Bulger’s multiple Massachusetts murder and racketeering trial is currently playing at Boston’s federal courthouse. This week, the prosecution played some statements from Bulger which had been recorded.

“Was this a taped conversation between someone and him back in the proverbial ‘day’?”

It is graduation time. Graduations often mean graduation parties. Parties, sometimes, bring violence. In the case of one such Dorchester party, that violence ended up being the death of three individuals.

Witnesses to the triple Massachusetts murder remain in shock over the violence which ensued after uninvited guests crashed the graduation party.

“I was close enough I could’ve got shot…Everybody scattered from the back to the front”, described a woman who identified herself as the Intervale Street party’s hostess.