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Today is Thanksgiving. While the daily criminal law blog goes on, this is not a day o concentrate on the problems of criminal justice. Instead, let’s gain some brief optimistic perspective.

From whence have we come?

Some of the particular crimes and punishments make today’s laws look pretty liberal. Since the criminal justice system was a part of the existing religious order of the community, all offenses were against God and society. Laws in the Puritan regions were filled with religious messages. The 1648 Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts, the penal code, for example, often quoted biblical passages.

For example, you think the laws regarding disorderly conduct, trespass and such are overly burdensome? Well, Colonists considered lying, idleness (not working), drunkenness and even general bad behavior as crime. Playing certain games in the Puritan colonies, such as shuffleboard or cards, was a crime. Forget about considering prostitution or sexual assault. Merely flirting was a crime.

The courts used shame, scorn, and humiliation to teach lessons for misbehavior. More severe crimes led to whipping and placing the guilty in wooden frames that had holes for heads and hands, called the pillory.
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As we near Thanksgiving, we look around for reasons to be thankful. True, economic times are tough and getting tougher. However, it would appear that all the violent crimes and drug dealing in Lynn, Massachusetts, has been stopped. No more guns rape, robbery or murder. It would appear that even the drunk driving problem is under control.

Now, the police have the time and resources to concentrate on other vicious crimes plaguing our society.

Prostitution, for example.

This past Saturday, a well timed police prostitution sting was said to be different than others done in the recent past. According to the Lynn Item, it was conducted in “broad daylight”.

No pun intended, I’m sure.

“For the city of Lynn, unfortunately, it’s a 24/7 problem,” said Sgt. Rick Carrow of the world’s oldest profession. He is the head of the department’s Special Investigation Unit that conducted the operation between 1 and 4 p.m. Saturday, netting nine arrests of would-be customers.

“There’s a market out there and we’re going to do what we have to do,” he said. And so they did.

Twenty-four-year-old Officer Kelly Aylward was the undercover decoy during the operation conducted in the downtown area, according to Carrow. The targets of this brilliantly conceived plan was to have an attractive female see if she could get men to want to have sex with her and be willing to pay for it.
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Angel R., 43, a former Springfield firefighter (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) has been having a bad time of it lately.

In July, he was arrested in connection with a fight with another gentleman.

Well, it allegedly involved alittle more than a simple fight; his fellow combatant, hereinafter referred to as “slashed”, ended up cut up through use of a box cutter. The Defendant was arrested for attempting to kill him.

The fight had taken place outside an apartment in Sixteen Acres on Allen Park Road. Slashed, who had been outside the home of his two children and their mother, had reportedly been slashed several times and still had a piece of blade lodged in his neck as it had broken off.

The Defendant was arrested and charged with assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and armed assault with intent to murder.

Police said that while in court, he apparently did or said something to violate the terms of his release and so a warrant was issued.

The Defendant was initially denied the right to bail, but in September, Judge Tina S. Page granted bail at $10,000 cash or $100,000 personal surety and stipulated that the Defendant was to have no contact with either Commonwealth witness, namely, Slashed and his children’s mother.

Apparently, the Defendant had also had a relationship with the children’s mother.

Do I see the form of a potential love triangle forming?
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When I was a kid, we had a thing called “show and tell” in which you could bring in something you thought was “cool” to show the class and maybe play with when the teacher was not looking. It was fun. For some reason, it never occurred to me to bring a weapon in to play with.

I guess times have changed.

Back then, I suppose, if I had brought some weapon in, my parents would have been called and I might be suspended. Today, though, it is the police who are called and it can mean incarceration.

Take a certain 14-year-old student (hereinafter, “Defendant 1”) at Silver Lake Regional Middle School in Kingston, Massachusetts, for example. A pellet gun was found in his locker, according to the Patriot Ledger.

On Thursday morning, a school staffer found the gun in a plastic bag. Police were called to the school, and Defendant 1 was arrested. Police said that the juvenile showed the gun to other students, which is how it the staff became aware of it.

14-year- old Defendant 1 was charged with carrying a weapon on school grounds and disturbing a school.

Over-reaction?
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Prosecutors on Friday filed a motion to dismiss one of the 1st degree murder charges against the 8-year-old boy who is accused of shooting his father and another victim. The boy’s father, Vincent Romero, and Tim Romans, Romero’s roommate, died from injuries they sustained in the shooting.

According to police, the boy confessed to shooting the two men in their home using a .22-caliber rifle on November 5, 2008. They recorded his confession on video.

 

 

A CBS legal analyst, however, called the interrogation of the boy “absurd.” Lisa Bloom noted that children younger than age 12 are susceptible to telling adults what they want to hear during questioning. She pointed out that the boy’s confession came only after a police officer questioned him repeatedly and prior to that the 8-year-old denied shooting the gun that killed Romero and Romans.

The boy did not have an attorney, legal guardian, or parent present during the interview by the two cops who were armed, and he was not read his Miranda rights. Other legal and child psychology experts are questioning whether the boy’s videotaped confession will be admissible in court.

Prosecutors say the boy was interviewed because they initially believed he was a victim. An assistant federal public defender says the interrogation should have stopped once the boy became a suspect.

The boy’s two 1st degree murder charges were filed in juvenile court, but St. Johns Police Chief Roy Melnick says he will try to have the boy prosecuted as an adult. To date, however, an 8-year-old has never been tried as an adult in criminal court.

Trying Juveniles in Adult Criminal Court
Sometimes, the severity of a juvenile crime may allow prosecutors to charge a juvenile in adult criminal court, where the penalties are much more severe.

Lawyers Drop One Murder Charge Against Boy, CBS News, November 22, 2008
Experts Doubt That 8-Year-Old’s Taped Confession in Double Killing Is Admissible, New York Times, November 21, 2008
Related Web Resource:

CBS News Video provided by YouTube
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Sean G., 20, of Roslindale (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) was out for a drive early Wednesday morning. Normally, that might not pose so much of a problem. However, this time was different.

You see, according to the police, the Defendant was drunk. Upon further investigation, he was apparently not even supposed to be driving the car in the first place.

However, the Defendant’s real problems began when the police took notice of the gray sedan in Holliston, Massachusetts.

According to Police Sgt. George Leurini, the Defendant was seen driving the sedan on Route 126 traveling over the posted speed limit. The Speed limit was 25 miles per hour – the Defendant was going 39 mph. Sgt. Leuini turned on his siren.

Apparently, this confused the Defendant as he neither stopped nor slowed down; he sped up. Now, instead of the 39 mph, he accelerated to 70 mph.

The police car gave chase.

Perhaps quizzical as to why 70 mph was not enough to satisfy the police, the Defendant kept accelerating until it became a high speed chase at speeds of 100 mph.
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Felony gun charges against Drew Peterson were dropped today when prosecutors refused to turn over internal files pertaining to their decision to arrest the former police sergeant. Peterson was arrested last May and charged with owning an assault rifle with a barrel shorter than what the state law allows.

Police found the gun when they entered Peterson’s home last November. 11 guns were confiscated from his home, during a search that took place after his wife Stacy went missing on October 28, 2007. Peter, who is a suspect in her disappearance, continues to deny any wrongdoing or involvement in the case.

Since the weapons charges were filed, Peterson’s criminal defense attorney has argued that his client did not break the law by possessing the rifle because the Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act makes him immune to the state’s weapons laws. Peterson used the gun when he worked for a police SWAT team.

Today, Judge Richard Schoenstedt granted a motion filed by Peterson’s legal team to pursue a “vindictive prosecution” defense and ordered prosecutors to give the defense team a limited copy of memos, e-mails and other documents pertaining to the weapons charges against Peterson.

After Assistant State’s Attorney John Connor refused to turn the documents over, the judge dismissed the charges. Prosecutors say the will appeal the case.

Vindictive Prosecution
This term refers to prosecution used to retaliate against a defendant.

Massachusetts Weapons Possession
In Massachusetts, illegal possession of a firearm is grounds for a mandatory minimum eighteen months behind bars if a defendant is convicted. If you have been arrested for weapons possession in Boston or anywhere else in the state, you will need legal help to combat the charges or get them reduced.

Gun charges dismissed against Drew Peterson, Chicago Tribune, November 20, 2008
Judge Drops Gun Charges Against Drew Peterson, Associated Press/Fox News, November 20, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Massachusetts Laws About Weapons

Massachusetts Firearms Law Reference Chart, Goal.org Continue reading

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You know, some people just belong in jail.

And some people are in jail…working for the jail.

Well, at least they were…!

Take Gary M., 48, of Berkley, a lieutenant with the Department of Correction in Boston (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) for example. He changed seats in the criminal justice arena when he was arrested Wednesday at his home and charged with stealing $100,000 in state funds, firearms and other items from the department for his own use.

The Defendant is now looking at charges of larceny by scheme over $250 and procurement fraud.

“How can a thing like this happen?”, you ask. After all, wasn’t the Defendant supposed to be upholding law and order as an shining example of clean living to those nasty inmates?

Well, maybe. But, according to authorities, his shine has dimmed a bit.

The Defendant had been responsible for the purchase of firearms, ammunition and other specialized equipment since 2002. Only thing is, though, he was supposed to be getting the stuff for the Department of Correction…not himself. He is now accused of buying numerous such items, including five 40-caliber handguns, a machete, a hunting bow and a baseball pitching machine, for himself .

Investigators also allege that between 2004 and 2008, the Defendant falsely reported the value, cost and quantity of equipment department officials believed they had paid for by misrepresenting invoices he had produced. He is also accused of knowingly submitting invoices for more merchandise than he actually used or needed and then using the difference in value as credit to buy items for himself, such as a baseball pitching machine, a motorcycle/ATV trailer, cameras, hunting equipment, firearms and other items. By employing this scheme, he allegedly caused the DOC to be improperly charged by the distributor for supplies that were never received by the DOC.
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Where do people learn such animosity?

Today’s daily blog involves two stories that have to do with dysfunctional family situations. We start with a story from Brockton, Massachusetts, where a 15-year old juvenile (hereinafter, “Juvenile Defendant”) now faces charges for an apparent “teddybearicide”.

Now a guest of the Commonwealth, at least until Thursday, Juvenile Defendant has thus far been charged with possessing an explosive device and disturbing the peace. Additional charges may be forthcoming.

It all began Monday evening when local police and the state police bomb squad responded to a 911 call reporting a potential explosive device that had been attached to a teddy bear and left on Florence Street that afternoon, a fire official said.

“It was a plastic bottle that had a solution inside the bottle that was mixed in a way that, after a period of time, it would explode,” Deputy Fire Chief George Phillips said. “A teddy bear was wrapped around the plastic bottle and it was left in the street.”

A representative from the state fire marshal’s office also responded, Phillips said.
It took authorities about 30 minutes to detonate the device with a robotic machine designed to disarm explosives, Phillips said.
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In Boston, a federal grand jury indicted Massachusetts State Senator Dianne Wilkerson on eight counts of attempted extortion connected to her acceptance of over $20,000 in cash between June 2007 and October 2008. A federal indictment charged Wilkerson with eight counts of attempted extortion under color of official right.

According to the indictment, Wilkerson allegedly accepted eight payments (a total of $23,500) from a cooperating witness and undercover agents. The indictment is seeking the return of those funds.

The FBI arrested Wilkerson exactly three weeks ago, following an undercover corruption investigation. Bureau and the Boston Police Department Anti-Corruption Unit began the probe after the senator came under suspicion for allegedly accepting illegal payments in connection with her office. Wilkerson was arrested after she was photographed allegedly putting $1,000 in bribes in her bra at a Beacon Hill restaurant.

Investigators say that they have video and audio recordings of Wilkerson accepting bribes from undercover agents. They are also accusing her of pressuring Mayor Thomas Menino, the Boston License Board, and City Counsel into delaying legislation on behalf of a local nightclub and allegedly taking bribes in exchange for helping the nightclub secure a liquor license.

The Roxbury Democrat has denied all wrongdoing and has refused to resign even though she was formally rebuked by her colleagues in the Massachusetts Senate and wasn’t re-elected to her seat. Her senate term is over in January.

If convicted, Wilkerson could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and 3 years of supervised release.

White Collar Crimes
If you have been arrested and charged with bribery, extortion, embezzlement, economic espionage, or any other white collar crime, your future, your career, and your family life may all be at stake if you are convicted. There have even been cases when a defendant has been wrongly convicted for white collar crimes committed by others.

Sen. Wilkerson indicted, Boston Herald, November 18, 2008
Sen. Wilkerson indicted on corruption charges, Boston.com, November 18, 2008
State Sen. Dianne Wilkerson Arrested By FBI, WBZ.com, October 28, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Read the Criminal Complaint (PDF)

Dianne Wilkerson
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