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So, you were out last Saturday night in Boston, enjoying the ten minutes or so that it was not raining. You figure you will celebrate with the herb of your choice. After all, this is 2009 and you can just light up some marijuana you have in your pocket and toke away, you figure. So…why do you find you need a defense attorney come Monday?

The current drug laws, including those involving marijuana, can be somewhat confusing…on or off of campus

For example, passage of the so-called decriminalization of marijuana has created a certain amount of misunderstanding. While it is not actually criminal to be in possession of an ounce or under of pot, it is not exactly celebrated either. The marijuana can be taken from you under the statute and you may have to pay a civil fine.

On the other hand, the circumstances of the arrest can still bring you back into the spotlight of criminal prosecution. For example, if there are reasons to believe you may be sharing or selling the drug, you can still be prosecuted for either trafficking or possession with intent to sell. Further, if you are under age, there are other provisions in the statute that effect you.
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The Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog has discussed many cases which involve elements to which law enforcement and the courts are particularly sensitive. Today’s posting involves one such class of victim, namely, children. In this case, it is the mother who faces criminal charges.

As the prosecutor told the court last Friday, police responded to a report of a 3-year-old being Kristen P. 27, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) was charged with reckless endangerment to a child and assault and battery on a child and was held on $10,000 bail after arraignment in Lowell District Court. According to the police, they found her 3 year old son locked in a sweltering, filthy attic. The boy was naked, covered in urine and feces, and had several minor bumps on his forehead. Further, the police say that the temperature in the attic was over 100 degrees. The attic door was locked and the only window inside was nailed shut.

Officers say that another boy and a girl at the home told them that the Defendant took the 3-year-old by his arms ”and dragged him upstairs to the attic.” The children told officers such things happened ”a lot.” Apparently, ”Mommy does this when she gets angry.”
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Between press conferences that threaten to bring the Professor Gates’ arrest for disorderly conduct back into headlines, Boston joins the rest of the world in watching the latest Michael Jackson thriller. This time, it features potential clashes between the legal and medical professions and may well end up starring over a dozen doctors teamed up with their very own criminal defense attorneys.

Los Angeles detectives and coroners have been very busy gathering information on doctors who have treated Michael over the years. In fact, their pursuits have included making the requisite showing to courts in order to get subpoenas and search warrants to obtain medical files and search residences as well as offices.

It has apparently been determined that Jackson was taking a lot of drugs. No, we are not talking about illegal drugs such as cocaine and heroin. These are legal drugs…so long as you have a valid prescription. However, when misused, they can be life-threatening. It is said that Michael used more than two dozen aliases in order to get these drugs. Nineteen of these identities are apparently mentioned in affidavits used by law enforcement to secure search warrants in their investigation. These 19 were said to have been used in connection with Dr. Conrad Murray.

Dr. Murray was apparently Jackson’s primary doctor who had a very “hands on” attitude when it came to Michael. According to according to Kai Chase, a professionally trained chef hired by Jackson to, ironically enough, maintain a healthy food regimen, Dr. Murray was at the scene of the death. On that morning, however, Dr. Murray did not follow his usual procedure of taking Michael his breakfast foods and bringing down his oxygen tanks.

On the day that Jackson died, Ms. Chase saw the doctor do neither…which was a sign that something was wrong.
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While we were all watching the recent episodes of “The Professor And The Officer”, did you know that other arrests were taking place? It would appear that even more violent crimes than disorderly conduct were still being committed around the Boston area and defense attorneys were being assigned or retained to handle them.

Let’s take three teenagers in Stoughton who were arrested early Monday morning for armed robbery for example. They stand accused of allegedly robbing a pizza delivery person at knifepoint.

Two adult youths, Reynold E., 18, (hereinafter, “Defendant 1”) and Jeovanni A., 19, (hereinafter, “Defendant 2”) were charged with various counts of conspiracy, assault and battery with dangerous weapon, and armed robbery while masked. A 14-year old female (hereinafter, the “Juvenile”) was also charged with similar counts in the alleged conspiracy.

The purported victims were a female delivery person ( hereinafter, the “Employee”)from Papa John’s Pizza and her boyfriend (hereinafter, the “Boyfriend”). After the alleged robbery and assault, they returned to the shop and called 911 in the early hours of Monday morning.
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Investigators are going through the Las Vegas office and residence of Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson’s personal physician. The search is part of their probe into whether or not criminal charges will be filed in the death of the pop star.

The King of Pop, 50, died on June 25, 2009 from cardiac arrest. Jackson’s untimely death not only caught the world by surprise but also caused speculation about the cause of his death. Final autopsy results are expected this week.

The latest searches involving Murray are taking place after a source familiar with the investigation told CNN that the doctor gave Jackson the drug that they believe killed him. The source says that Murray allegedly administered propofol to the singer (also known as Diprivan) just 24 hours before his death.

Assistant Special Agent in Charge Mike Flanagan, a spokesperson for the Drug Enforcement Administration, says the details of the search warrants have been sealed by a judge and cannot be revealed.

Last week, authorities in Texas went through Murray’s storage unit and medical office in Houston searching for evidence related to possible manslaughter. Investigators took Rolodex cards, certain medications, including clonazepam and phentermine, a computer, a couple of hard drives, and numerous documents.

Police have spoken with Murray two times since his death. The doctor’s attorneys, however, are refusing to comment about rumors and statements made by unnamed sources. They say that their client never administered or prescribed any medication to Jackson that would have caused his death.

Murray was the doctor with Jackson when he died. Jackson had hired him as his personal physician and was reportedly paying him $150,000/month.
Police search Jackson doctor’s home, office, CNN, July 28, 2009
Michael Jackson’s doctor becomes focus of manslaughter probe, LA Times, July 24, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Michael Jackson Dies, TMZ, June 25, 2009
Michael Jackson Funeral
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As we close the lid on this three-part Attorney Sam’s Take posting on Disorderly Conduct, we look at where I come in. Along with other criminal defense attorneys, I stand ready to represent a client facing such charges. When is the best time to contact me? Immediately. In fact, particularly if the police approach is merely signalling an upcoming or ongoing investigation, before you even engage in a discussion with the officer. Unfortunately, in most cases, I am summoned after the confrontation has taken place, sometimes leaving the addition of a Disorderly Conduct charge to whatever issues existed before the confrontation.

First of all, understand that, while it is the police officer who locks one up, or seeks a complaint against you, it is the prosecuting attorney, the assistant district attorney, who carries your prosecution from there. Prosecutors vary in terms of experience, of course, but most are well-trained and have the resources of the Commonwealth behind them for advice, investigation and tactics. Back in that “perfect world” I mentioned yesterday, the prosecutor always follows his or her oath…to “do justice”.

As I also mentioned, this is not that perfect world.

Like the police officer, the prosecutor did not wake up in the morning and engage in a search to find innocent people to keep in jail. Most prosecutors earnestly do their job. However, they have their own biases and these biases usually include a belief that the arresting officer’s word is gold and, if you were arrested, you are guilty. Tempered with those beliefs, of course, is the fear that I have mentioned many times that, if simply released with no attention, you may go out and kill somebody”, thereby landing them and their boss, who sits in a political position, in the papers the next day and, potentially without a job.
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As a Boston-area criminal defense attorney who has worked on both sides of the aisle, I have been doing a lot of talking lately about Disorderly Conduct arrests in the Commonwealth. I have been interviewed by media outlets out of state, such as the L.A. Times as well as national outlets such as Time Magazine. In the meantime, the arrest of Professor Gates has been assigned by most to the pile of questionable racial incidents.

To me, however, to write it off as simply a “racial incident” misses the point which is faced by people every day in the criminal justice system. The primary difference between Professor Gates and most other cases is that he is a man of stature who can command national attention. Most people do not. As a result, when they become offensive to a police officer, there is no media pressure causing prosecutors to drop charges or a thick blue line of officers holding press conferences to demand apologizes from local and national public figures.

This is why this blog regularly warns you to avoid confrontations with the police and, if you are being approached, do not to try to engage in a battle of “one upmanship” with the officer, be it physical, strategic or verbal. The bottom line is that you will lose such a match, at least for the day. The officer carries the cuffs…you only get to wear them. The officer has the badge and the gun. Those items will outweigh your brilliant arguments and speedy escape attempts every time.

“But Sam”, you ask me, “What are we supposed to do? Just stand there and take it?”
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The other day, I received another one of those calls from a prospective client. He was calling me about a case in which he was scheduled to face criminal charges at Boston Municipal Court the next day. He had not sought an attorney earlier because, until he had spoken to a friend of his, he had thought the charge was “no big deal”.
He was facing felony charges.

The fact is, however, there is really no such thing as “no big deal” when you are facing criminal charges. The crime I most often see the N.B.D. misconception associated with is the charge of “Disorderly Conduct”.

Yes, this is the type of charge that Professor Gates from this week’s headlines faced. People hear of this type of charge and imagine intoxicated people waving an empty bottle of whatever they just consumed, yelling incoherently at passers-by and creating a public nuisance. The image of Otis from the old “Andy Griffith Show” comes to mind.
Yes, that fits, but such a colorful example is not necessary.
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Damage control for the Cambridge Police Department in the arrest of renowned Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. has begun. The charges against him were dropped yesterday as lawyers for the Department announced that nobody involved in the incident had acted “at their best”.

For those of you who were living in a sound-proof room the past couple of days, police had arrested the African American Professor as he was “breaking in” to his own home because his door would not open. When police came to investigate and demanded identification and explanations, Professor Gates accused them of bothering him because he was black, suggesting that they were being racist. He ended up arrested for on charges of the Disorderly Conduct variety, handcuffed, and brought in. The public reaction began and the Commonwealth dropped the charges against him yesterday, although announcing that somehow the investigating officers actually had “probable cause” to arrest the man who was able to show he was merely entering his own home, provided positive identification yet had the temerity to opine that he was being hassled because of his skin color.

In an interview Tuesday, Professor Gates said the situation “shows our vulnerability to the caprices of individual police officers who for whatever reason are free to arrest you on outrageous charges like disorderly conduct.” Mr. Gates called a police report alleging he yelled at an officer and was uncooperative “a work of sheer fantasy.”
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Massachusetts criminal charges have been dropped against Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Gates was arrested on July 16 at his home in Cambridge.

The 58-year-old Harvard professor, who is one of the most prominent African-American scholars in the US, had just returned home from a trip abroad. He was standing outside his home when he motioned to his driver to help him open his front door, which was jammed. A passerby who observed the interaction contacted police to report a possible break-in.

According to the report, Gates was arrested for his allegedly “loud and tumultuous” conduct and taken away in handcuffs. Gates claims that he turned over two forms of ID to the police officer and when he asked the cop to provide his name and badge number, the police officer refused. Disorderly conduct charges were filed against the Harvard professor.

The arrest sparked an outcry among those who believe that Gates’s arrest involved racial profiling. A number of his colleagues say that this type of profiling is not uncommon in Cambridge.

In 2004, Allen Counter, a neuroscience professor at Harvard said two campus police officers apprehended him after mistaking him for a robbery suspect. They threatened to arrest him when he was unable to produce identification.

Reverend Al Sharpton says the incident involving Professor Gates is an example of abuse of police power.

Racial Profiling
Racial profiling involves law enforcement officers using race as their basis of suspecting someone of having committed a particular crime.

Gates lashes out after authorities agree to drop criminal charge, Boston.com, July 21, 2009
Prominent Black Scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Sees Charges Dropped, ABC News, July 21, 2009
Profiling Charge In Black Scholar’s Arrest, CBS News, July 21, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard.edu
Racial Profiling, Amnesty International
Police Department, City of Cambridge Continue reading

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