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In Framingham District Court, WTKK radio host and Boston Herald op-ed columnist Michael Graham attended his arraignment today where he pleaded not guilty to charges of running a red light and driving with a revoked license. Graham was apprehended on Friday as he was headed to work. A police officer reportedly placed the radio host in handcuffs and took him to the police station upon discovery of the license issue.

Massachusetts registry officials say Graham’s Virginia driver’s license had been revoked due to insurance matters. He reportedly had until November 2008 to deal with the license revocation matter but failed to do so.

Graham claims he does not know why his license was revoked but that he may have failed to properly cancel his insurance. The radio host says that he has a Massachusetts driver’s license and a clean driving record in this state.

Now, the Graham wants his case to go to trial. He is complaining that the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles neglects to tell drivers when a driver’s license has been revoked or is expired. This is Graham’s first arrest.

Driving with a Revoked License
In Massachusetts, driving with a revoked or suspended license is considered a crime. In many instances, a person may be driving with a suspended or revoked license and not even know it.

Driving with a suspended or revoked license in Massachusetts can result in time in jail, financial penalties, and the furthered suspension of one’s driver’s license.

The best way to combat such charges is to speak with an experienced Boston traffic violations law firm who can protect your rights and combat the charges against you.

Graham seeks jury trial on revoked license charge, Boston Herald, February 17, 2009
Talk Show Host In Court After Arrest, WCVB, February 17, 2009
Graham cuffed, jailed after ‘minor traffic infraction’, Boston Herald, February 13, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles

Michael Graham, WTTK Continue reading

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The new changes in the Massachusetts drug laws will not help one gentleman from Fall River. It might not happen in Boston, but New Bedford’s District Attorney has a policy that means bad news for defendants possessing drugs and guns.

The result?

A decade behind bars.

William T., 30, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) was convicted last Monday in New Bedford Superior Court on various Massachusetts drug charges, such as trafficking Class B drugs over 100 grams, trafficking Class B drugs over 14 grams and possession of marijuana to distribute, as well as possession of an illegal firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and unlawful possession of a large capacity feeding device after pleading guilty.

Superior Court Judge Richard Moses sentenced the Defendant to 10 years for the drug trafficking charge, and a three-year sentence to run concurrently on the Massachusetts firearm charges.

The Defendant was arrested in March 2007 after police saw him exit a residence at 33 Hall St. during a surveillance operation. Police then stopped the Defendant as he drove away from the home, and a subsequent search revealed two plastic bags in his waistband containing 122 grams of cocaine.

Police then went to the Defendant’s home and executed a search warrant. Police recovered two bags of marijuana, 23 more grams of cocaine, five firearms, ammunition, a scale, packaging materials and $37,665 believed to be drug proceeds.
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Welcome to Boston, Massachusetts, where there dwells, according to MSNBC-TV commentator Keith Olbermann, his “Worst Person in the World.” (video available at http://blogofbile.com/tag/michael-galluccio/). He is State Trooper Michel G. (hereinafter, “PO Nobreak”). And he has one local attorney, other than me, scratching his head in disbelief.

PO Nobreak gained unwelcome fame late last year for making a woman who was in labor wait to get to the hospital while he cited her husband for driving in the breakdown lane. The story, first reported in The Boston Globe, ricocheted around the country and sparked outrage. But all that notoriety was not enough for the State Police.

Even after the new father, John D. (hereinafter, the “Scourge” ), appealed the $100 ticket and a Cambridge clerk magistrate tossed it out, the department refused to give up. A lawyer for the State Police challenged the clerk magistrate’s decision and appealed to restore the ticket late last month. A hearing was scheduled before a Cambridge District Court judge March 18.

The Scourge’s attorney said that in a dozen years, he’d never seen the State Police appeal a traffic ticket. He couldn’t quite believe they were going to pursue one against a the husband of a woman in labor.

“When I asked, ‘Are you sure the State Police want to be on record as appealing this?’ what he said reportedly said was, “I just wouldn’t have any credibility if I did not appeal this,'”
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In Massachusetts, the Supreme Judicial Court has struck down a law that lets the state keep juvenile offenders that it considers dangerous for another three years after they turn 18. Under Massachusetts’ extended commitment law, the Department of Youth Services is allowed to hold juveniles until age 21. The state’s highest court, however, is now saying that the the law violates the youths’ constitutional rights.

The court issued its ruling in a case brought by three juveniles. The court says the law does not clearly define what “dangerousness” means. Previously, the law had a requirement that the threat of physical dangerousness had to connected to a mental condition that would make it hard for a person to practice self-restraint. That requirement, however, was dropped in 1990.

The court also said that it in 2004, it told the Legislature that it was seriously worried about the law’s constitutionality and asked them to try and fix its flaws. According to Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts deputy director Barbara Kaban, the court’s ruling shows that the state will not detain someone based on an allegation of dangerousness if the meaning of what that danger actually consists of is unclear.

The juveniles that brought the case had been detained for a number of crimes, including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and larceny. The three youths have been in DYS custody since they were 16. While they were put on probation at first, all three of them violated their probation terms and were sent back to the juvenile detention facilities. The DYS applied for extended commitment orders for all three youths before they turned 18.

A DYS spokesperson says that following the new ruling, some 12 youths between ages 18 and 21 who are still in DYS custody will likely be released.

Juvenile Defense
The state of Massachusetts uses a completely different system for juveniles and adults when prosecuting crimes. There are steps that can be taken to protect the rights of your son or daughter and to minimize the impact of being charged with a juvenile crime.

Court: State can’t hold youth 3 extra years, BostonHerald.com, February 13, 2009
Juveniles’ release after 18 backed, The Republican, February 11, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Massachusetts Department of Youth Services

Juvenile Court Department, The Massachusetts Court System Continue reading

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Brewster police officer Joseph H. (hereinafter, “Officer Openfly”) went to a Metallica concert on January 18th. That’s ok…they’re allowed to do that. But the force tends to frown upon things like exposing oneself and urinating on families. So do Suffolk County detectives and, presumably, assistant district attorneys. So, now he faces a hearing in Boston to determine if felony charges should be brought against him.

It’s not the only place he has faced a hearing and potential disciplinary action against him. Earlier this week, he had a disciplinary hearing before selectmen yesterday for the alleged drunken and lewd behavior at the Boston concert. ,

Officer Openfly allegedly pulled down his pants and urinated on a member of a family sitting in the row in front of him at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, according to reports from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Transit Police and Boston police. He then verbally and physically harassed the female members of the family with his pants still down and penis exposed, according to police.

The drunken symbol of law and order was then thrown out of the concert by security personnel. Transit police then told him to leave or face arrest for trespassing. But Officer Openfly was not done. He attempted to re-enter the concert by flashing his badge, which was at least an improvement, and telling them he was a Brewster police officer, according to the police reports. Apparently, he had missed the memo that indicated that law enforcement officials do not get special dispensation to sexually harass, and pee on, families. At least out of jurisdiction.

Apparently unimpressed, the officers arrested Officer Openfly and charged him with trespassing, a misdemeanor.
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Young Omar B., 17, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) is a lad from Hyde Park in Boston. Saturday, he was driving in Dedham. He had a bit of an adventure. His adventure has not fully ended yet. It has transformed into a criminal justice adventure as learned on Monday, in court, needing a lawyer.

The adventure involved a wrestling match with a police officer, according to the Commonwealth. It was apparently not a solo match, though. He was part of a team.

His partner?

His mom.

Lt. Det. Francis Bielawski was directing Dedham Mall traffic at 1:30 p.m. when a car driven by the Defendant, failed to stop until it was in the intersection of Incinerator Road and Washington Street, police said. The traffic violation is, as yet, unknown.

Bielawski pulled over the Defendant, who was talking on a cell phone, and discovered the youth only had a learner’s permit and was alone in his mother’s car, said Lt. Robert Nedder. The law does not allow a person with a learner’s permit to drive alone.

When a tow truck arrived to take the car, Bielawski and Officer Richard Cawley asked the Defendant to step out, but he at first hesitated, Nedder said.
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Here’s something you don’t see every day…a prosecuting attorney who has to go to Boston’s Supreme Judicial Court to back him up in not prosecuting someone!

Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone has refused to prosecute former state Senator James Marzilli for an alleged assault of an Arlington woman last April. Leone said he found there was not enough evidence to prosecute Marzilli for Massachusetts’ indecent assault and battery charges.

The complainant is not happy. She has been fighting Leone all the way to force him to prosecute.

The complainant alleges that Marzilli drove her to her Arlington home from a fund-raiser in April and, while standing in her kitchen, grabbed her breast and crotch. But Leone said in August that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove the woman’s case “beyond a reasonable doubt,” which is the standard in criminal cases.

The woman then filed a private criminal complaint, the normal process of which being having a clerk magistrate’s hearing to determine probable cause to issue a criminal complaint. Apparently, the clerk found probable cause and a complaint issued.

But Leone again decided not to prosecute and refused to have Marzilli arraigned.
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This past weekend, there was a party on the campus of Amherst College.

There was a little trouble. The result?

One youth lies in a hospital bed recovering from multiple stab wounds. Another, Marcus S., 21 of Boston (hereinafter, the “Defendant”), actually a student of University of Massachusetts, appeared in court yesterday as his lawyer tried to get him released on bail.

That attempt was not successful.

Amherst police responded to the call for assistance from the Amherst College Police Department at about 1 a.m. on Sunday . There had been a stabbing at Crossett Dormitory on the Amherst College campus. Upon arrival, officers discovered that a 20-year-old Amherst College student had been stabbed multiple times in the back and chest. He was transported by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield where he was treated for injuries that were not deemed to be life-threatening.

The police became suspicious of the Defendant, who was covered in blood, but only had a minor cut on his thumb. Upon investigation, according to the arresting officer, the two men had argued about a girl with whom the Defendant had been dancing.
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24 years after he was convicted of raping a college student, Timothy Cole was finally exonerated of the crime. Last week, a judge ordered that Cole’s criminal record be expunged after DNA evidence proved that he was innocent, as he has always maintained. Unfortunately, the exoneration comes too late for Cole who died from asthma complications in 1999 at age 39. He was serving a 25-year prison sentence for a crime he did not commit.

DNA findings are now linking the rape to Jerry Wayne Johnson, who is already serving a lifetime prison sentence for more than one rape crime. On Friday, he admitted to raping the young woman. He is asking the victim for forgiveness.

Ruby Cole Session, Cole’s mother, expressed gratitude that her son’s name has been cleared. The rape victim, Michele Malin, has also come forward to clear his name. She is now 44.

Malin had identified Cole out of a photo lineup, during a live lineup, and again at his criminal trial. She says that when her case was under investigation, officials had portrayed Cole as a violent criminal.

It is reportedly not uncommon for investigators and police to manipulate lineups or for witnesses to identify a suspect who looks like the perpetrator-especially if the real criminal is not present.The dead man’s family now wants the Texas governor to issue a formal pardon.

In an unrelated case, another man was released from a Texas prison last month when DNA evidence also proved that he was serving a 99-year prison sentence for a crime he did not commit. Charles Chatman was convicted of aggravated sexual assault 28 years ago. He is the 15th inmate to be set free in Dallas County in the wake of new DNA evidence.

In Massachusetts, DNA evidence was also a key factor in exonerating Anthony Powell who was convicted of rape and kidnapping after serving more than 12 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Powell’s conviction was vacated in 2004. Last year, Massachusetts police arrested Jerry Dixon for this crime and three others after he took a DNA test.

Rape crimes can be tough cases to prove and the wrong person be charged with a crime he or she did not commit.

Judge clears dead Texas man of rape conviction, Yahoo.com, February 7, 2009
DNA evidence frees Texas man after 26 years in jail for rape, USA Today, January 3, 2008
Innocent man finally finds justice, Boston Herald, July 18, 200i

Related Web Resources:
The Innocence Project

New Efforts Focus on Exonerating Prisoners in Cases Without DNA Evidence, NY Times, February 7, 2009 Continue reading

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This February began as “Weapons Gathering Month” as far as local police are concerned. We return to two warnings often read in the daily Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog. Namely…(1) different law enforcements agencies communicate and (2) you do not get advance notice that an investigation is going on.

No, I am not referring to the cache of weapons in a Worcester home that were discovered when police and an ambulance were called due to a medical emergency this weekend. The month’s gun-toting atmosphere predated that.

A joint investigation by five area towns resulted in the arrest and arraignment in the beginning days of February of a Maynard man on charges of stealing and trying to sell firearms, including some assault rifles.

Lawrence W., 24, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) was arrested as a result of an ongoing investigation according to Marlborough Detective Lt. Robert Jusseaume, one of the investigators in the case. The investigation included police from Maynard, Marlborough, Hudson, Sudbury and Newton, he said.

“We were able to pool information and resources and we were able to, based on our investigation, establish probable cause that a cache of weapons was stored at house in Maynard,” Jusseaume said.

“It originated with a burglary in Newton over the summer,” Jusseaume said. “Numerous weapons, including assault rifles, were taken.”
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