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It’s another long weekend for many of us Bostonians starting today. That’s the good news. This means that law enforcement will be particularly aware of what is going on in the Commonwealth. That’s good and bad news, depending on your perspective. However, regardless on how you feel about it, you had best be wary of it or you will end your weekend in a courtroom hoping that your lawyer will be able to find the right words to allow you to return home by nightfall.

The police hyper-awareness on holiday weekends is routed in reality. Often, people forget the realities of their normal lives amid a long weekend of fun and frolic. For example, frolicking often involves alcohol or drugs. Drinking alcohol, and now smoking a small amount of pot, and staying put is not, in and of itself a problem. Sometimes, though, people decide not to stay put.

They may decide to go for a drive. Bingo! Operating Under The Influence…or worse. Perhaps they get a bit rambunctious and get into an altercation with someone they meet. Bongo! Assault and Battery. Maybe they are feeling generous and are taking some of their favorite drug with them to share with a buddy. Bango! Possession with intent to Distribute.
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Aaron C., 30, of Attleboro (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) may be a bit angry today. As I write this, he may even be on the phone calling his attorney to look into suing the authorities for invading his privacy.

It appears that he was making a telephone call and the authorities listened to the conversation…and then they arrested him.

Well, perhaps the surrounding circumstances are worth noting. He was in a police station in Providence Rhode Island at the time. He was being questioned about the murder for which he was thereafter arrested.

You see, the Defendant has been accused of shooting and killing a 67 year-old woman in her Attleboro home.
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To the north of Boston is the town of Saugus. In Saugus is a restaurant named “Maddy’s Restaurant”. Maddy’s has a parking lot. On July 29th, a fight occurred at the parking lot which allegedly led to two men being stabbed and one allegedly being struck with a beer bottle. On September 29th, Bob Wong of Maddy’s was invited to appear before the Saugus Board of Selectmen’s meeting to explain it. No criminal charges, mind you. No criminal defense attorney.

But the finger of accusation nonetheless.

The police investigation had involved several agencies who were called in to attend to the assault victims. These included the Cambridge Police, Cambridge Hospital, Massachusetts State Police , local firefighters and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Nobody has alleged that Mr. Wong had any part in the fight. In fact, the fight had taken place over an hour after Maddy’s had closed for the night. However, the Board of Selectmen were investigating what, if any, liability Maddy’s may have had in the incident. They had asked for a
representative of Maddy’s to appear before them to tell their side of the story as an alternative to proceeding directly to a show-cause hearing.
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Yesterday, we dealt with the latest celebrity crime matter, the David Letterman extortion case. Today, another white collar case is the topic, this time right from the Boston area. The crime is Larceny. That’s right, that is what Letterman’s blackmailer was charged with as well. This, however, seems to simply be about plain old-fashioned theft.

The alleged crime involves the theft of hundreds of Verizon Blackberrys and the sale of them on the internet. To date, the suspects’ rewards include hundreds of thousands of dollars collectively and one criminal defense attorney each.

“This was an extensive scheme,” the Middlesex District Attorney said in the statement announcing the indictments. “We thank Verizon for first discovering this scheme and then contacting authorities immediately…”

He estimated the alleged scam had a value in excess of $600,000.
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The man charged with interstate stalking using harassing and intimidating surveillance for making a nude video of ESPN sportscaster Erin Andrews was released from police custody today. A judge ordered Michael David Barrett to wear an electronic bracelet. He is prohibited him from using the Internet.

The 47-year-old man allegedly tried to sell footage of a nude Andrews to the Website TMZ.com. He also is accused of uploading video of other women onto the Internet.

According to an FBI affidavit, most of the Andrews footage was shot while she was a guest at the Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt University in September 2008. The lawyer for Andrews says that Barrett asked the hotel put him in the room next to the one where Andrews was staying. He then allegedly modified the peephole so he could use a cell phone camera to shoot the nude footage of the reporter.

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Last week, Boston joined the rest of the country in watching the revelations of the extortion of David Letterman. Letterman confessed to sexual relationships with staffers on his show and Robert H. (hereinafter, the “Defendant”), standing with his lawyer, pleaded “not guilty” to grand larceny charges and posting $200,000 in bail money.

Ironically, the Defendant is no stranger to crime stories, being a producer for CBS’ true-crime show “48 Hours.” Apparently, he has worked for the network for 27 years and has no prior criminal record.

According to the prosecution, the Defendant demanded two million dollars last month in order to prevent the releasing of information about Letterman’s sexual exploits with female staffers. Trying to disguise the blackmail note as a screenplay treatment, the note opined that Letterman’s world would “collapse around him” when information about his private life was disclosed, leading to “a ruined reputation” and damaging his professional and family life.

Rather than simply giving in to the extortion plot, Letterman is said to have contacted his lawyer who arranged a meeting with the Defendant wherein the Defendant demanded $2 million to keep the material secret. After the meeting, law enforcement was contacted and the investigation began.
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I grew up in the Boston area. I remember, when I was a kid, my father reading the newspaper and seeing an article that a former friend of his had pleaded guilty to several white collar crimes.
Actually, the reason the gentleman was a “former” friend was that my dad was one of the victims of the alleged fraudulent acts. Until reading that article, my dad had been convinced that his friend had not intentionally misled him to his detriment, but that the unfortunate result had been simply bad luck.

Now, my dad was convinced that he had been duped. “After all”, he said, “Why would the guy plead guilty if he were not guilty?”

It sounded right to me at the time.

Years later, I became a prosecutor in Brooklyn, New York. This was the start of my real education as to how the system works.

My answer to my dad’s question has rung hollow ever since.
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Kareem T, 28 (hereinafter the “Defendant”), was happy when Monday rolled around this week. After spending the week in custody, the Framingham man got to see his defense attorney and was returned to the free world…if $10,000 can be considered “free”, that is.

Last week was a bad one for the Defendant in the first place. First of all, he was arrested earlier in the week on drug charges. Then, three days later, on Friday, new allegations were broughtagainst him.

At 8:30 p.m., police received several 911 calls about a man pointing a gun at a person in a car at Jefferson Terrace. The police came to investigate, but found that the alleged victim had driven drove off and the suspect had walked away. However, bystanders gave police a detailed description of the suspect.

The officers converged on the area.

One of the officers saw two men walking, one of which had matched the suspect’s description. The officer is said to have yelled out, “Framingham Police, I want to talk to you”. One of the men walked toward the officer, while the other turn, looked at the officer and then ran away.

And so the chase began.
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Yesterday, as you may know, was the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. It is known as a day of atonement and many Jews, including this one, fast during the holiday. Perhaps it was because of the day’s lack of food that brought my attention to this particular news story.

Antonio J., 35, of Worcester (hereinafter, the “Defendant”), was apparently quite hungry on August 12, 2009. It was, after all, about 6:45pm, which is around dinner time.

The Defendant happened upon a man who was sitting under a tree eating hot dogs in the park. According to the police, the Defendant mumbled something incoherent to the man. He then made his desire known. “Eat that other dog?” the Defendant asked.

“Yes,” the man replied.

“I’m going to eat it,” the Defendant corrected him as he lifted up his shirt and revealed what appeared to be a handgun.
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Renowned film director Roman Polanski says he intends to fight efforts to extradite him to the United States on charges that he had sex with a minor in 1977. The 76-year-old filmmaker was apprehended in Switzerland last Saturday where he had arrived to accept a lifetime achievement award that the Zurich Film Festival was going to bestow upon him.

Polanski has been living in exile from the US since he left the country rather than be sentenced for pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor. Samantha Geimer, then 13, had accused the director of giving her champagne and a portion of a Quaalude pill before raping her. Although initially indicted on six felony counts, the other charges (which could have resulted in a lifetime prison sentence) were dropped after he entered his guilty plea.

Polanski served 42 days in prison and underwent an evaluation. Despite agreeing on a sentence, allegations have been made that the judge tried to go back on the plea agreement. Polanski then fled the country.

Geimer, now 45, has publicly forgiven Polanski. Earlier this year, Geimer submitted a a formal request to prosecutors that they drop the charges against the filmmaker. She and her family don’t want to keep reliving the assault every time the media reports on the incident.

While France does not extradite its citizens, Switzerland does not provide such protections from international warrants. This was not, however, Polanski’s first visit to Switzerland. He owns a ski residence in Gstaad. California authorities reportedly have been engineering the filmmaker’s arrest ever since discovering he was going to the festival.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is asking that Polanski be granted bail. Swiss authorities say that as long as Polanski agrees to stay in the country, he could be released on bail. France and Poland are in an uproar over Polanski’s arrest.

Roman Polanski’s victim Samantha Geimer, now 45, ‘got over it long ago,’ New York Daily News, September 28, 2009
Polanski’s Attorney Says He Will Fight Extradition to U.S., Washington Post, September 28, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Roman Polanski, IMDB
Polanski’s arrest could be his path to freedom, AP, September 27, 2009 Continue reading

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