Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog

May 7, 2010

“I Have Received A Criminal Complaint In The Mail! What Does This Mean? What Do I Do?”

It is a situation that we have discussed a number of times on the Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog. Yet, particularly since the initial response to getting such a care package from the government is usually panic, it is worth revisiting.

First of all, the good news. What you have received and believe is a criminal complaint is probably not really a criminal complaint.

Although it is not a criminal complaint, it is an extremely important piece of paper that must be treated as such. What you have probably received is a summons to go to court in connection with criminal allegations that are, indeed, being made against you. The summons is likely one of two kinds. You are being summoned to either an arraignment or a clerk magistrate’s hearing.

If you ignore this piece of paper, as further discussed below, you risk being arrested. Plaintly put, you are being summoned to appear in court. Should you ignore or forget about the date the sumons reflects, a warrant will likely be issued by the court, mandating your arrest.
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May 6, 2010

The Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog Reveals A North Of Boston Drunk Driving Matter With A Twist

by Altman & Altman

Just to show you that the Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog is not only focusing on kids these days and their foibles, such as attempted murder, we discuss today a slightly older gentleman in need of counsel…lots of it.

The gentleman, Michael G., 31 (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) hails from Salem and was arrested in Swampscott for operating under the influence as well as one or five other charges. He was apparently not charged for other, somewhat unusual items of interest in his car.

The Defendant was brought to the Lynn District Court where he was charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license, drinking alcohol from an open container in a motor vehicle, marked lanes violation and following too closely.

Swampscott police had been alerted to the Defendant, who is a student at Wentworth in Boston, as he sped by on New Ocean Street around 3:30 a.m. April 30.

As the police followed him, the Defendant is said to have been weaving all over the road and tailgating another vehicle, before he was pulled over on Paradise Road.
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May 5, 2010

Massachusetts Students Face Charges Of Assault, Attempted Murder And Alcohol Distribution

by Altman & Altman

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.
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April 30, 2010

John Odgren Receives Life In Prison Without Parole for Massachusetts Murder of Schoolmate

by Altman & Altman

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

April 30, 2010

A Boston Criminal Defense Attorney Looks At The Question Of Whether The Antibullying Bill Is The Solution (Part Two)

by Altman & Altman

Well, it looks like the state Legislature has unanimously approved the new state law cracking down on bullying. It must be a great thing, right? After all, it passed unanimously! How could so many politicians in the Boston area be wrong?

The legislation would require school employees to report all instances of bullying and require principals to investigate them. Now, how could that be a bad thing?

“Bullying is not new. Bullying has been with us from time immemorial”, explained Senator Robert O’Leary, the chairman of the Senate Education Committee. “But what has changed is that it appears to be more pervasive, more destructive By this, one would imagine he refers to the new cyber-bullying. In fact, it would appear that it used to be more violent. As for “destructive”? Well, recently two victims of bullying have tragically taken their own lives
“We’re going to send out a message that this kind of behavior is not acceptable and the community needs to deal with it,” O’Leary said.

Meanwhile, Representative Martha Walz, House chairwoman of the Education Committee, said the bill was “very strong legislation that will make a meaningful difference in the lives of children in our state.”

“This is a day that we can be proud we have done something positive – to eradicate bullying and to demonstrate to this Commonwealth and to the nation that bullying will no longer be tolerated,” said Representative John Scibak, whose district includes South Hadley, where the case of Phoebe Prince drew international attention to the issue of bullying.

Both the House and Senate had previously passed versions of the bill. A House-Senate conference committee on Wednesday released a compromise version.

The bill now heads to the governor’s desk. A spokeswoman said Wednesday the governor would review the bill but considered passage of strong anti-bullying legislation “a top priority.”

And so you have it, right? Short blog today. Nothing to say. All is good in the Commonwealth, or it will be as soon as this bill is law.

Well, maybe not so short after all. I have a few concerns.
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April 29, 2010

Ex-Salem Resident Convicted of Attempted Boston Rape of Woman in Massachusetts General Hospital Bathroom

by Altman & Altman

A jury has convicted 40-year-old David Flavell of assault with intent to rape a Massachusetts General Hospital employee. The 40-year-old former Salem resident, who before this latest incident was already registered as a Level 3 sex offender, was accused of attacking the woman inside the Boston hospital’s lobby bathroom last October. The jury also convicted Flavell of Massachusetts assault and battery and two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Prosecutors said that Flavell, who was waiting outside the woman’s restroom, followed the victim inside and placed an “out of order” sign on the door. They say that he pushed the victim’s head against the floor, tore her pants, hit her on the face, and tried to rape her before she got away. The Suffolk County District attorney’s office said that the “dangerous weapon” reference refers to the floor and the wall.

Because this is not Flavell’s first criminal offense, he could be sentenced to life in prison rather than the 20-years prison sentence that comes with a first conviction of assault with intent to rape. During the mid-1990’s, he was arrested in Salem for lewd sexual acts. He was convicted in Essex County in 1998 of assault with intent to rape. He was also arrested in Salem and Methuen six times for allegedly sexually pleasuring himself on clothes that were hanging in local stores. He was arrested in Salem in 2003 after he called a help line and said he was worried about what he might do. He was charged with making a false report. During a 2006 criminal trial, a Massachusetts Superior Court Judge determined that Flavell wasn’t a sexually dangerous person. Flavell was arrested in 2008 for peeping into a women’s stall at a Braintree bookstore.

Former Salem man convicted in sex assault case, Eagletribune.com, April 30, 2010
Sex offender convicted in MGH attack, Boston Herald, April 29, 2010

April 29, 2010

A Boston Criminal Defense Attorney Must Ask…Is The Antibullying Bill, Now Leaping Over Legislative Hurdles, the Solution? (Part One)

by Altman & Altman

Oboy! It’s so exciting to solve age-old presumably unsolvable problems! Here in the Boston area, we seem to be doing just that. Can it be that our government is going to come up with really well-thought-out solutions and reduce the need for lawyers running around in civil and criminal courtrooms dealing with the fallout?

Sure. We’ve also finally outlawed the Ozone Layer.

Sweeping ant bullying legislation is poised for passage after lawmakers have struck agreement on a measure that proposes to require school employees to report all bullying incidents and require principals to investigate them. And that’s just for starters!

The bill now moves to the House of Representatives and Senate, where it is expected to win overwhelming approval any minute now.

Governor Devil Patrick has also voiced strong support for the bill, which gained momentum after the highly publicized deaths of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince and 11-year-old Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, who took their own lives after being bullied.

Representative Martha Walz, the bill’s primary author, said the mandatory reporting requirements will help deter bullying and prevent it from reaching dangerous proportions.

Gee, and I thought the indictments against 9 kids brought by certain very public super-heroic district attorney was supposed to have done that…!
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April 28, 2010

Dilemma Of A Boston Criminal Defense Attorney In A Murder Trial

by Altman & Altman

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.
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April 27, 2010

T-Crash May Result In Alcohol Related Charges For Boston College Students

by Altman & Altman

Tempers sure are flaring now that it is known that no serious injuries resulted from the collision between a Green Line MBTA train smashed into a jeep! Transit officials are crying “Foul!” against the athletes who had been in the jeep. Crimina-Defense-Attorne- Needing-type-Foul.

The crash took place this past Sunday around midnight as a Green Line trolley driver, traveling about 30 miles per hour, was heading westbound en route to stop at Greycliff Road and Commonwealth Avenue in Brighton. Yards from the Greycliff Road crossing, the driver says he noticed a black Jeep Cherokee at the intersection at Commonwealth Avenue.

According to an MBTA transit police report, the driver sounded the horn five times and then engaged the emergency stop. The jeep’s driver cut in front of the train as if attempting to make a U-turn onto Commonwealth.

WHAM!

The trolley struck the side of the Jeep, pushing it back onto Commonwealth Avenue. When the jeep stopped, according to the report, some of the its occupants got out, grabbed items that appeared to be alcoholic beverages, and then fled down Greycliff Road.
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April 26, 2010

The Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog Returns To Multiple Assault, Battery And Disorderly Conduct Arrests

by Altman & Altman

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.
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