Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog

February 4, 2009

Boston-Area Lawyer Struggles To Prepare For Dangerousness Hearing After Client Is Found With Weapons And Assaults Neighbors

Nikita R. 50, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) lived in the near the City of Boston…Arlington, in fact. Until this week, he was perhaps an average-looking man who you might pass on the street and give a friendly nod to. His neighbors knew him mostly as a quiet guy who smoked cigarettes on his porch.

This changed on Monday when the Defendant put on camouflage fatigues and, armed with a 9mm handgun, allegedly ran up and down a tree-lined street screaming incoherently and pointing the handgun at his neighbors according to police.

This morning, he is a guest of the Commonwealth, held without bail and facing various felony charges, as his attorney prepares to argue to the a judge that he is not a danger to the community.

Don’t let that one lone handgun fool you, though. He was also carrying an illegal double-sided knife, police said. Inside his apartment on Magnolia Street, investigators with a search warrant discovered several more illicit knives and an illegal, high-capacity SKS assault rifle with ammunition, police said.

“Suffice to say, he was well armed,” said Chief Frederick Ryan of the Arlington Police Department.
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February 3, 2009

The Battle Between Cruisers And Drivers Continue, Inside And Out Of Boston On A One-Way Road To The Defense Attorney

by Altman & Altman

This Massachusetts Dangerous Driving tale did not begin in Boston…it did not even begin in Massachusetts. But it ended there. In Springfield. In court. With a defense lawyer by his side trying to explain why his out-of-state allegedly reckless client should go home after his arraignment.

When 33-year-old Rogelio V. (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) entered the Commonwealth on Monday morning, he was not alone. He was leading a kind of law enforcement parade. By “parade”, I mean “chase”. State and local police had been led on a wild ride that ended when the Defendant allegedly intentionally rammed a cruiser on Center Street, Captain Eugene C. Dexheimer said.

“He wasn’t going to stop for anybody,” Dexheimer said.

The chase began in Hartford, Connecticut after the Defendant was involved in a hit and run accident there, Longmeadow Police Sgt. John D. Stankiewicz said. Longmeadow police first spotted the Defendant, northbound on Route 5, shortly before 2:30 a.m. Until that point, Hartford and Enfield police had been involved in the chase, police said.

When the Defendant, refused to stop, Longmeadow police deployed spike strips, blowing out all four of his vehicle’s tires, police said.

The “never say die” Defendant, eventually driving on his rims, continued to flee at speeds below 30 mph Dexheimer said. “Sparks were flying from the tires that now were wheels,” Dexheimer said.
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February 3, 2009

Former Coast Guard’s Massachusetts Rape Trial Begins this Week

by Altman & Altman

The Massachusetts rape trial of former Coast Guard officer David Pierce is set to begin this week. Pierce is accused of raping the same woman five times in 2005.

Pierce’s criminal defense attorney claims that the sex between the client and the woman was consensual and that the two of them were involved in some sort of relationship that year. Pierce was indicted on five counts of rape in January 2006. He pleaded not guilty.

Several Coast Guard officers are expected to testify during his criminal trial. The alleged victim, Cape Cod Hospital nurses, and Yarmouth police officers are also expected to give their testimonies.

If he is convicted, Pierce would become a known Massachusetts sex offender and likely sentenced to time in state prison.

Rape
If you have been accused of committing rape in Massachusetts, it will be up to your Boston criminal defense attorney to combat the charges against you. Rape is a crime that usual involves non-consensual sexual intercourse between people, usually by force or under threat of injury. A defendant can be accused of raping a stranger, a friend, an acquaintance, a significant other, or a spouse.

A good Boston sexual crimes lawyer will know how to investigate the evidence against you, as well as determine what evidence exists in your defense. There may be information or evidence that could get the charges against you dropped or reduced. A conviction for rape in Massachusetts could lead to years in prison. Your name would also be placed on the Massachusetts’ sexual offenders list.

Coast Guardsman faces rape trial in Mass., Examiner.com, February 3 2009
Barnstable trial on rape charges begins Tues., CapeCodOnline.com, February 2, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Mass Law about Rape and Sexual Assault, Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries
Sex Offender Registry Board, Mass.gov Continue reading

February 2, 2009

Boston-area Law Enforcement Endangered By Drivers Needing Defense Lawyers

by Altman & Altman

It has been a difficult and dangerous time for Boston-area police officers. While perhaps not intentional, recent tragedies and near-tragedies remind us that some of those we represent as defense attorneys often endanger not only themselves, but everyone around them when driving dangerously.

Including police officers. Let’s look at two recent examples.

You have probably already heard about State Police Captain Richard J. Cashin, 52, father of four, who died last Wednesday when his cruiser crashed into a utility pole. It has now been determined that he was likely enroute to help Saugus police pull over a car that was reportedly driving erratically.

About a mile and a half from the crash site, Saugus police had pulled over the driver who, police later found out, was texting while driving, said Saugus Lt. Michael Annese. He believes it’s likely that is where Cashin was headed.

State Police spokesman Dave Procopio said “Based on the proximity of the time and location and the type of police officer Capt. Cashin was – always looking to assist other officers – you could draw a reasonable inference that he had begun traveling up Route 1 to look for an erratic driver, who posed a threat to the public, at the time he lost his life,” Procopio said.

Witnesses told police the car’s lights and sirens were not on prior to the crash, Procopio said.
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January 31, 2009

Convicted Massachusetts Rapist Claims He Isn’t A Pedophile

by Altman & Altman

In an interview with the Patriot Ledger, convicted Massachusetts Level 3 sex offender Alvin B. Fields Jr. says he is not a danger to his community. Fields, a Plymouth resident, appeared in Plymouth District Court last week after he was apprehended for taking his clothes off in front of an Old Navy at a Massachusetts mall. In the last four years, Fields has been arrested a number of times for exposing himself in public. In 2005, he was convicted for statutory rape.

Fields says he never exposed himself in front of the Old Navy store. He also says that he did not know that the teenager he slept with, leading to his Massachusetts rape conviction, was only 13. He says that he pleaded guilty in that case and was given a lenient sentence due to extenuating circumstances.

Fields’s victim, however, says that she met him at a Quincy parking lot and he served her alcohol. She says she passed out and woke up to find Fields having sexual intercourse with her.

He was sentenced to a two-year prison term and a lifetime of parole, which means he could go back to jail for another arrest. However, the charges against him involving public exposure are not offenses that can be applied under this parole.

Levels of Sex Offenders in Massachusetts
Level 1: The Sex Offender Registry Board finds that the chance of the offender committing another sexual offense is low, as is his or her degree of dangerousness to the public.

Level 2: The Board considers this offender’s risk of reoffense and dangerousness to be moderate.

Level 3: The sexual reoffender is considered at “high risk” for reoffending and his or her degree of dangerousness to the public is determined to be substantial.

Fields was on Massachusetts’s 2006 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender list because he did not register as a sex offender.

Level 3 sex offender: “I am not a pedophile”,Enterprise News, January 29, 2009
Levels of Sex Offenders, Mass.gov
Related Web Resource:
WANTED: High Risk Sex Offenders, Mass.gov Continue reading

January 30, 2009

Boston District Attorney Decides Not To Press Charges For Detainie’s Death

by Altman & Altman

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley has decided not to press charges against Boston Police officers in the case of David W., the 22-year-old Emmanuel College student (hereinafter, the “Deceased” who died after being arrested in June during Boston Celtics championship celebrations.

“As a result of a thorough, objective, and independent review of the facts, I have concluded that no criminal charges are warranted,” Conley said in a statement he delivered at an afternoon news conference yesterday. “The facts are clear and the medical evidence overwhelming that [the Deceased’s] death was the result of natural causes – specifically a serious, preexisting heart condition.”

The Deceased stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating while in police custody. He was taken to the hospital, but died 11 days after his June 18 arrest.

Conley, who reported his findings in a letter to Police Commissioner Edward Davis, said officers had struggled to subdue the Deceased, but the evidence was clear that officers did not use excessive force in arresting him.

Last month, the state medical examiner signed the Decedent’s death certificate, indicating his death was the result of a congenital heart defect.
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January 29, 2009

Yesterday’s Boston-Area Shooter Found And Set To Meet Lawyer And Judge Today

by Altman & Altman

This time it was not a post office or in the city of Boston. It was a Cambridge supply company where two employees did not get along. Clyde H. 65, of Brookline (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) is now accused ending the feud by killing his adversary, Marurice R, 33, (hereinafter, the “Victim”). At arraignment today, somebody ought to tell his attorney not to argue with his new client, just in case he is not one of our daily readers.

It was the first homicide in Cambridge in more than a year.

The shooting took place yesterday morning at the Baystate Pool Supplies complex on Smith Street. Co-workers watched in horror as the Defendant allegedly gunned down the Victim at the complex. chasing him outside to finish him off, authorities said. While the reason for the dispute remains unknown, police say that the two had been arguing for months.

“There was an ongoing dispute between the two employees,” said Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone at a press conference at the Cambridge Police Department. “The dispute unfortunately resulted in this tragic death.”

The Defendant allegedly used a handgun to blast the Victim once inside the building, then chased him outside and shot him multiple times, including at least once in the head and torso, authorities said.
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January 28, 2009

Boston Federal Judge chastises United States Attorney For Misconduct

by Altman & Altman

The chief judge of the Boston ‘s local United States District Court is threatening to sanction a federal prosecutor for what he characterized as the latest “egregious failure” of the United States Attorney’s office to disclose evidence that could have helped clear a defendant. Undisclosed, the result could lead to a wrongful conviction.

Chief District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf said in a sharply worded memorandum that Assistant US Attorney Suzanne Sullivan failed to disclose that a Boston police officer’s testimony at a pretrial hearing contradicted what the officer had repeatedly told the prosecutor beforehand. The defendant, a Mattapan man arrested on gun charges in July 2007, is still awaiting trial.

Wolf said the truth about the circumstances of the arrest came to light only when he reviewed Sullivan’s notes of her interviews of the police officer, Rance Cooley. The judge wants Sullivan and her boss, US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, who are not related, to file affidavits by February 5th explaining why he should not sanction her, the US attorney’s office, or both.

“The egregious failure of the government to disclose plainly material exculpatory evidence in this case extends a dismal history of intentional and inadvertent violations of the government’s duties to disclose in cases assigned to this court,” Wolf, a high-ranking prosecutor in the office in the 1980s, wrote in his 42-page ruling.

He listed at least nine major cases he presided over during the last two decades in which prosecutors working for Michael Sullivan and his predecessors allegedly withheld important evidence. In several instances, the jurist, 62, wrote, the misconduct led to mistrials and convictions that were overturned.
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January 27, 2009

Boston Secretary Of State Tells Madoff Associate To Visit; Attorney Says “Nope”.

by Altman & Altman

..And now, let’s check in with the Bernard Madoff case, as we periodically do in this daily blog. You remember 70-year-old Bernie…admitted white collar criminal mastermind of the Boston-created Ponzi scheme that ended up bilking about fifty billion dollars from philanthropies, hospitals, rich people, poor people, charities, etc., across the country and, indeed, the globe.

When last we left Bernie, he and his lawyer were trying to prevent the government from convincing the court to have him await trial in jail instead of being in a probationary state in his luxury apartment. Guess what? He won that round.

You may recall I had predicted that, with a catastrophe this large, the finger of accusation would not be satisfied with just one man. Well, those who were supposed to have been regulating people like Bernie have been lounging around in the hot seat. But, now, it is someone else’s turn.

Robert Jaffe was a 64-year-old business associate of Bernie’s. He helped raise millions of dollars for Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities (BMIS) from Boston and Palm Beach’s wealthy social sets. He was vice-president of Cohmad Securities, a brokerage that was 20 per cent owned by Madoff. Cohmad paid commissions to financial advisers who steered cash to Madoff’s fund. He is also the son-in-law of Carl Shapiro, 95, a Boston philanthropist who is said to have lost $545 million invested with Madoff.

There are a number of investigations going on, both criminal and civil, regarding the Madoff Nightmare. Mr. Jaffe is currently being sought for his turn in the limelight. Unfortunately, he does not seem to want to go.
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January 27, 2009

Framingham Judge Wants DA’s Office to Retry 2006 Drunk Driving Case Because of Possible Judicial Misconduct

by Altman & Altman

Framingham Judge Robert Greco wants the district attorney’s office to retry a 2006 Massachusetts drunk driving case because he says there is evidence that judicial misconduct took place. Earlier this month, Greco denied the DA’s motion to reconsider this order.

On January 14, Grego ruled that that there was evidence showing that the judge in the trial, Nantucket first justice Joseph I. Macy, had gone into the jury room while deliberations were taking place and did not give jury members sufficient instructions about how to decide the case.

Last November, however, Macy gave testimony that he did not enter the deliberation room while jurors were deciding on defendant John Bresnahan’s verdict. He also says that he has never entered a jury room during deliberations throughout his entire judicial career. He did, however, admit to speaking with jurors after they issued a guilty verdict against Bresnahan. Macy says that going into the room to thank jurors and answer any questions is standard practice once a trial is over.

A number of court officers also testified that Macy did not enter the room while the jury was deliberating. However, three of the four jurors who gave testimony during a post-verdict juror inquiry claim that Macy entered the room during deliberations to answer a question.

Now, Grego wants the guilty verdict vacated and the case retried. The 2006 verdict was Bresnahan’s fourth DUI conviction. Assistant District Attorney Tom Shack, however, says he will appeal Greco’s decision. He says the DA’s office believes that Greco is in error.

Judicial Misconduct
Judicial misconduct can occur when the Code of Judicial Conduct has been violated. Some examples of judicial misconduct:

• Conflict of interest • Impropriety • Misconduct during an election campaign • Ex parte communication
Evidence of Misconduct Found in ’06 Drunk Driving Trial, The Inquirer and Mirror, January 26, 2009
Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct

Related Web Resources:
Massachusetts Law About Drunk Driving
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