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On Friday, Boston’s Supreme Judicial Court, the highest state court in the Commonwealth, passed down a ruling that underscores the contractual aspect of being on probation, particularly in sexual assault cases.

The ruling indicates that new probation restrictions cannot be imposed on sex offenders – such as wearing a GPS device or banning them from playgrounds — until after they violate their probation.

The case in which the issue came up was that of Ralph G. (hereinafter, the “Probationer”). The Probationer is a Level 3 sex offender who was convicted of kidnapping and raping a 7-year-old boy in 1990. After a post-conviction hearing, a jury finding him to not be “sexually dangerous” any longer, the Superior Court ordered him to get sex offender counseling and maintain mental health care. No other limits were placed on him, such as limiting where he could go or the wearing of a GPS device.

However, Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. Was not satisfied with this. His office wanted the Probationer to wear a GPS and to be banned from playgrounds, schools, and libraries.
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Martin Raffol, who recently resigned as executive vice president of WinnCompanies’s residential arm, has pleaded guilty to witness tampering, underwriting illegal campaign contributions to local, state and federal candidates, and concealing information from the Federal Election Commission. He entered his pleas in U.S. District Court in Boston on Tuesday.

Raffol has admitted that from 2003 to 2009, he solicited campaign funds for politicians who could help WinnCompanies with its projects. In US District Court, he confessed that vendors who gave him contributions were reimbursed through the padding of contractors’ bills. This allowed him to keep the Federal Election Commission from finding out that WinnCompanies was the actual source of the money.

The candidates that received the $12,000 in illegal campaign contributions that Raffol funneled are Representatives Stephen F. Lynch of South Boston, Barney Frank of Newton, William D. Delahunt of Quincy, and Michael E. Capuano of Somerville. Raffol also has admitted to directing over $30,000 in illegal campaign contributions to Governor Deval Patrick, state Senator Dianne Wilkerson, and Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

Raffol’s criminal defense lawyer has said that Raffol was pressured by WinnCompanies top brass to raise money for sympathetic politicians and was afraid to lose his job if he didn’t comply. The charges filed against Raffol are only related to the contributions that went to federal officeholders.

A conviction for witness tampering comes with a maximum 20-year prison sentence. The concealment conviction comes with a 5-year maximum sentence. As part of his plea deal, however, Raffol is expected to receive a considerably reduced prison sentence.

Boston realty exec pleads guilty in campaign cash scam, Boston Herald, September 19, 2010
Former executive pleads guilty to illegally moving campaign contributions, Boston.com, September 14, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Tampering with a Witness, Lectlaw
Federal Election Commission
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In a 4-3 ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that unless released sex offenders violate their probation, they cannot be made subject to new probation limits. The decision was issued in the case of Level 3 sex offender Ralph W. Goodwin, who in 1990 was convicted of the Massachusetts rape and kidnapping a 7-year-old boy.

The 49-year-old Lowell man was released from custody last year after a jury determined that he was no longer sexually dangerous. Goodwin was ordered to undergo sex offender counseling and keep up his mental health care. However, his whereabouts were not restricted and no one ordered him to wear a GPS device so that he could be monitored.

Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. and the probation department disagreed with the lack of restrictions placed on Goodwin and sought that he be required to use a GPS bracelet. They also wanted him barred from libraries, schools, and playgrounds.

Noting the 2009 SJC ruling that the law requiring that all sex offenders on probation use GPS devices cannot be applied retroactively, a superior court ruled that imposing such restrictions on Goodwin was not legally permissible unless he violates his probation. Today, four out of seven SJC justices arrived at the same conclusion.

However, according to the Boston Herald, while the SJC was deciding Goodwin’s case he did in fact violate his probation by failing to fully participate in mental health counseling. He is now wearing a GPS ankle bracelet as a result of the violation.

Per probation data, because of the SJC’s 2009 ruling 162 people convicted of Massachusetts sexual crimes successfully petitioned the court to terminate their GPS monitoring. Another 160 sexual offenders who were convicted after 2006 were also allowed to get rid of their GPS bracelets.

Divided SJC bars new probation limits on some sex offenders, Boston.com, September 17, 2010
Sex offender in SJC case breaks probation, gets bracelet, Boston Herald, September 17, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Massachusetts Law About Probation, Sentencing and Parole
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Yesterday, we discussed Darryl B., (hereinafter, again, the “Defendant”) and his legal difficulties resulting from a confrontation with local police in Allston, MA. Said difficulties resulted in the awarding of the Commonwealth bracelets of shame, involuntary Commonwealth housing and various criminal charges including Armed Robbery, Assault with a Dangerous Weapon and the like.

In brief, the Defendant is alleged to have robbed a polling place during Tuesday’s primary election with a gun. The police were notified and he fled. When the police caught up with him, the Defendant allegedly pointed the gun at them. Finally, deciding not to die, he put the gun down.

The Defendant has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon, assault by means of a dangerous weapon, and being a Level III armed career criminal because of prior gun convictions for incidents in 2002 and 2004, Suffolk district attorney’s spokesman Jake Wark said.

Often, I find that clients are surprised when, after committing a few criminal acts , they are charged with more criminal charges than they had expected.

It would not be surprising to hear the Defendant protest, “Ok, I stole the money, but I did not hit or shoot anybody! What’s with all the charges?”
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28-year-old Darryl B., of Allston, hereinafter, the “Defendant” may have severe legal problems right now, but the man is lucky to be alive. But for the restraint of Massachusetts law enforcement, he would have successfully committed what is commonly referred to as “suicide by cop”.

And the officer would have been justified.

Of course, this is not to say that things look too rosy for the Defendant right now. He is facing a variety of charges after he allegedly pulled a gun on police officers who were chasing him.

Why were they chasing him?

They received a report of an armed robbery near a polling place during Tuesday’s primary election, Boston police said.

Apparently, the police were chasing the Defendant after the report of an armed robbery at about 3:30 p.m. in front of the Jackson/Mann school on Armington Street. He is said to have fled officers on a bike and then, after discarding the bike, ran into the rear of a house on Glenville Avenue where he pulled the gun and pointed it in the direction of an officer.
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In true “If something is wrong, somebody must be to blame and it must be a crime” fashion, the MA town of Arlington’s selectmen have voted to notify the Middlesex District Attorney’s office of a $1.5 million deficit in the school department’s budget for fiscal year 2010.

The board voted unanimously to notify the prosecutor’s office of the deficit, which school officials announced in mid August, more than a month after the conclusion of fiscal 2010.

That’s right, unanimous.

Well, would you want to be the lone person against reporting the potential white collar crime to the Commonwealth? Do you think “What do you have to hide?”type of questions might haunt you if you did?

Target anyone?

Well, several town officials have criticized Superintendent Kathleen Bodie for failing to reveal the extent of the deficit sooner, and Selectmen Chairwoman Diane Mahon told School Committee members Monday that they need to take “swift and decisive action” concerning the deficit.

Bodie has said the deficit was caused by several factors, including rising special education costs and a reduction in grant funding. She also said the total amount of the deficit was not known until August and was then revealed to the School Committee.

Hmmm…!
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Often, when I am telling you about a crime taking place in Boston’s Dorchester area, it is a story about assault or guns or drugs…or maybe all three. Not today. Today, it is a tale of conspiring to defraud the federal government.

Amadiegwu O., 63, who lived in Randolph (hereinafter, the Defendant”) is a pharmacist who ran a drug store in the area.

The Defendant became the target of a joint investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Attorney General’s office, the state auditor and Boston Police.

Yesterday, he pleaded guilty in Federal District Court. In doing so, he admitted that he defrauded federal health plans out of nearly $353,000. This would be the money he collected for prescriptions he never provided to patients, according to federal officials.

According to a statement issued by United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz’ office today, the Defendant admitted that the conspiracy worked as follows:
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Theary C., 26, of Lowell, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) is due to be brought in to Lowell District Court today.

He is to be arraigned on a charge of MA homicide.

No, not the type of killing which dominated the news, and this blog, last week. This is not a case of premeditated murder. It is a case of vehicular homicide.

The victim?

An off duty police officer, Patrick J., 31 (hereinafter, the “Deceased”)
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In Salem Superior Court on Thursday, Louis Walters, a former resident of the state, pleaded guilty to Massachusetts child rape and incest charges. He has been sentenced to eight to nine years in state prison. He faces similar charges related to the same girl in New Hampshire and is expected to be sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison.

Walters, 38, began a three-year relationship with the girl in Massachusetts when she was 15. She later moved in with him in New Hampshire.

Under the plea agreement worked out with prosecutors in both states, Walters will serve his prison sentences concurrently.

Walters is not the only person to recently plead guilty to Massachusetts rape. On Tuesday, a Clinton man was sentenced to three to five years in prison and five years probation after he pleaded guilty to Massachusetts child rape charges and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute-the drug charge, which is unrelated to the sexual crime charge, was originally a Massachusetts cocaine trafficking charge but was reduced to a lesser crime under his plea agreement.

According to prosecutors, Nieves, 28, had sex with a 14-year-old girl in 2008 at a relative’s home. The teenager told police about the Massachusetts sexual assault after discovering that she was pregnant. Nieves’ Massachusetts criminal defense lawyer says the sexual intercourse was consensual and requested a more lenient sentence.

In an unrelated Massachusetts child rape case, an Essex grand jury has indicted Lawrence school safety guard on three counts of Massachusetts aggravated rape of a child and one count of driving under the influence of drugs. Farrar is accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl that started when she was 13.

Police apprehended the 30-year-old man in Salisbury on July 31 when they spotted him allegedly driving his van in an erratic manner. The girl was in the vehicle. She told the authorities that she lied to her mother about her whereabouts so that she could be with Farrar, who is also her basketball coach. Both the girl and Farrar have admitted to numerous sexual encounters together and she has admitted that she is in love with him.

Man pleads guilty to child rape, MyFoxBoston, September 10, 2010
Clinton man pleads guilty to child rape, Boston.com, September 8, 2010 Lawrence school guard indicted on child rape charges, Boston Herald, September 1, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Massachusetts General Laws
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…And so students and their families alike are awakening to the passing of the season. Summer is exiting Massachusetts, and school is beginning. This time, though, things are a bit more serious. First of all, as discussed yesterday, the Boston area seems to be in the middle of a dramatic increase in murder cases. Violent alleged criminals aside, however, what once was not unusual juvenile school behavior will now be viewed under the type of criminal justice microscope that inevitably brings new arrests.

As you will recall, the Massachusetts legislature brought into being a new anti-bullying statute last year. It is now in effect and, because of its vagueness, has school districts scrambling to figure out how to adhere to it.

At the same time, there are attorneys who have adjusted their practices so that they may open the new specialty to capitalize on the new statute and attention on bullying behavior.

Meanwhile, I am a criminal defense attorney with many years of experience. I also am focusing on the new statute and the mess it is about to bring the system. Said mess began when a bunch of kids were indicted last year for bullying activities on which another student’s suicide was originally blamed.

The truth is that, for the most part, what was illegal to do remains illegal to do.

Let’s take some examples:
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