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Court officials in Boston say that they are waiting for the results of a Wentworth Institute of Technology investigation to determine whether to file criminal charges against two of its students, who are accused of videotaping two women having a sexual encounter in a nearby Massachusetts College of Art and Design dorm.

The video was posted on a Wentworth network site and was viewed by many people, including students from other schools. Court clerks will usually wait to file a criminal complaint against college students with no prior criminal record when they are being investigated for misdemeanor crimes, such as underage drinking, at universities.

Emily Niland and Rosanne Strott, the women in the video say they felt violated when they found out several months later that the video existed. Strott, who has seen the video, says that the voices of men can be overheard on the video chanting antigay statements and talking about her body.

Wentworth students David Siemiesz and David Cunha allegedly recorded the videotape. Siemiesz says that he and Cunha did not intend for the video to go online and they didn’t realize the severity of their actions. About 10 men had watched the two women from a Wentworth dorm room. Siemiesz says he told someone to get a camera even though he felt anxious about his actions. He says he doesn’t know who posted the tape on the site.

Boston police say the two men could face a misdemeanor charge of videotaping a nude or partially nude person without consent. If convicted, Siemiesz and Cunha could spend up to 2 ½ years in a county correction house. Cunha and Siemiesz were not charged with distributing the tape because the site they posted the video on is a file sharing network that only Wentworth students can access.

Peeping Tom video lands two students in district court, Boston.com, June 12, 2008
Women taped secretly in dorm room, UPI.com, June 13, 2008

Related Web Resource:

Surviving a Misdemeanor Charge (in College), Arizona.edu Continue reading

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In Massachusetts, Northampton Fire Chief Edgar Lesko and his wife Deborah have pled not guilty to four counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor. The couple is accused of letting several underage teenagers drink alcohol in their home last summer. One of the teens, David Homan, 19, died when the car he was driving it a tree.

The couple is being charged under Massachusetts’s “social host” law. The Leskos’ son, Andrew is charged with one count of alcohol possession as a minor and four counts of procuring alcohol for a minor.

Enacted in 2000, Massachusetts’s Social Host Responsibility Law holds anyone who manages or owns a property in the state responsible when a minor drinks on the premise (even if the owner or manager did not supply the alcohol). The misdemeanor crime comes with a one-year maximum jail sentence and a $2,000 fine.

The Social Host law is part of a wider statute covering related offenses, such as adults purchasing alcohol for youths and establishments selling minors to alcohol.

Between 2000 and through 2005, the Essex district attorney’s office says that it prosecuted over 20 cases under the Social Host law. Middlesex County says that between 2002 and through 2005 at least 277 charges were filed under the overall statute. In 2005, Suffolk County filed charges against 88 people.

If you have been charged with serving alcohol to minors or allowing them to drink alcohol in your home or establishment, you should contact our Boston, Massachusetts criminal defense law firm immediately.

There may be reasons you could not have possibly known or prevented the minor from drinking alcohol on the premise-or the drinking incident may have occurred before or after the minor was in your home.

Fire captain, wife charged under `social host’ law, Boston.com, June 5, 2008
Social host law hard to enforce, DAs say, Boston.com, January 8, 2006

Related Web Resources:

The General Laws of Massachusetts

Don’t Give Kids Alcohol
Continue reading

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In federal court in Massachusetts, Daniel Ekasala pled not guilty to three counts of possession of oxycodone with intent to distribute. Authorities apprehended the 35-year-old Saugus resident during a sting operation involving New England Patriots offensive lineman Nicholas Kaczur.

Kaczur, who was arrested and charged with illegal possession of prescription painkillers in April wore a recording device during three alleged drug transactions that took place in gas stations in Foxborough, North Attleborough, and at a Sharon parking lot. During each of the three deals, the “cooperating witness,” as he was described in a Drug Enforcement Agency affidavit, purchased 100 OxyContin tablets for $3,900.

Ekasala ‘s defense attorney says that that the prosecution will have to reveal what the 28-year-old football player is getting in return for his cooperation. Kaczur was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree after police in New York pulled him over for speeding.

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The criminal trial of R & B Singer R. Kelly continues this week. Kelly is charged with 14 counts of child pornography related to a video in which he allegedly is seen having sex with a minor.

Kelly has pled not guilty to all 14 counts and he denies that he is the man seen in the video having sex with the young girl. The alleged victim is now a 23 year-old-woman, and she too denies that she is the girl in the video.

Last week, Chicago Police Officer Delores Gibbon testified that the girl in the video was her niece, who was only 13 or 14 years old when the video was shot. The girl’s childhood best friend Simha Jamison also identified the girl in the video. She also identified Kelly as the man in the video.

Jamison says that she and her friend visited Kelly a number of times at his recording studio and that the singer often gave her friend money, ranging from $100 to $500. She also says that she and her friend visited the home where the sex tape was shot during the time that the video was filmed. The witness says her friend never told her about a sexual relationship with the singer.

The alleged victim’s uncle and aunt also testified in court that she is the girl in the video.

Kelly’s defense attorney has suggested that the star’s image may have been digitally inserted into the video. The singer faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Child Pornography
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s web site says that federal law defines child pornography as “a visual depiction of any kind, including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting, photograph, film, video, or computer-generated image or picture, whether made or produced by electronic, mechanical, or other means, of sexually explicit conduct, where it a) depicts a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct and is obscene, or b) depicts an image that is, or appears to be, of a minor engaging in graphic bestiality, sadistic or masochistic abuse, or sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex, and such depiction lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”

Owning, making, or distributing child pornography is illegal in Massachusetts and every other US state. If you have been arrested or charged with child pornography in Massachusetts, our Boston sex crimes lawyers can help you fight the charges.

4 witnesses ID alleged victim in R. Kelly trial, AP, May 23, 2008
Child Pornography: What is It?, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

Related Web Resources:

R. Kelly trial: 3 best moments for prosecution, defense, Chicago Tribune, May 27, 2008
R. Kelly arrested on new child porn charges, CNN.com, January 22, 2003 Continue reading

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In Massachusetts, a Hanover caterer who fired a gun at an intruder is being charged with assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling. David Crest is scheduled to appear in court for his arraignment next week.

Crest had been sleeping in the office of his catering business when he heard a noise on April 21. He was watching out for a possible intruder because he had already been robbed of thousands of dollars worth of food, alcohol, and equipment.

When he found the intruder-John F. O’Connor, who was the head chef and inventory store clerk of Crest’s business-Crest says fired his Mossberg 500 12-gauge shotgun in warning to protect his property. He aimed two of the bullets at O’Connor’s tires as he tried to escape.

Police, however, says that Crest should not have fired the gun or tried to take the law into his own hands. Crest, on the other hand, says he has the right to defend his property.

Crest says he has an active firearms license. Police, however, decided to file criminal charges against him because he fired his weapon in a neighborhood, shot the bullets in the direction of a man who was not armed, and did not take into consideration the possibility that others might get hurt.

Crest’s Massachusetts criminal defense attorney says that his client has every right to protect himself and his property and that he used reasonable force. Crest was also not reportedly aware that O’Connor was unarmed. He was also uncertain as to whether there were other accomplices on the premise.

As for O’Connor, he was arrested after Crest alerted police. He has been charged with larceny and breaking and entering.

Was it self-defense or firearms offense?, Boston Globe, May 15, 2008
Hanover caterer armed with a 12-gauge shotgun stops burglar, Patriot Ledger, April 24, 2008

Related Web Resources:

The General Laws of Massachusetts

Assault, Justia Continue reading

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Lori Drew, a Missouri mother, has been indicted in connection with a cyber taunting case that prompted a teenager to commit suicide in 2006. The federal indictment, filed in US District Court in Los Angeles, says the 49-year-old mother and others used a MySpace account to pose as “Josh Evans,” a 16-year-old boy. The “boy” then pretended to have romantic feelings for 13-year-old Megan Meier.

Meier hung herself in her room after her online crush rejected her and told her the world would be better if she wasn’t in it.

Meier’s mother, Tina, found her daughter hanging by a belt in her room. She says that her daughter was insecure and suffered from depression.

If convicted, Drew could spend up to 20 years in prison for three counts of accessing protected computers to get information to inflict emotional distress, as well as one count of conspiracy. Her arraignment is in June.

According to law enforcement officials, Drew set up the account to find out what Meier was saying about her own daughter. “Josh” and Meier communicated for about a month before he broke up with her. Meier hung herself within an hour after the break up. She died the next day.

The indictment alleges that Drew deleted the MySpace account and told one of the teenagers to “keep her mouth shut.” However, the indictment also says that unnamed others (including a teenager) sent the last email message that led to Meier’s suicide.

Previous to the indictment, Missouri prosecutors said they would not file charges against Drew because she did not violate any laws. According to St. Charles Prosecutor Jack Banas, no one could have known that being mean to someone on the Internet could lead to suicide.

This year, however, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles began a grand jury probe to determine whether Drew and others defrauded MySpace by giving the company false information.

Mom indicted in deadly MySpace hoax, CNN.com, May 15, 2008
Alleged MySpace ‘cyber-bully’ indicted in teen’s suicide, Los Angeles Times, May 15, 2008

Related Web Resources:

A town fights back in MySpace suicide case, Los Angeles Times, November 22, 2007
Cyberstalking, The National Center for Victims of Crime
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In Massachusetts, Middlesex County prosecutors have announced that they will not file criminal charges against State Senator James Marzilli. The announcement comes after prosecutors conducted an investigation into charges filed by a woman alleging that the senator had inappropriately touched her without her consent early in the morning on April 6.

Prosecutors say they interviewed the woman several times, as well as several witnesses that had seen Marzilli and the woman at a fundraiser a few hours before the alleged incident. The Middlesex district attorney’s office cited a lack of sufficient evidence to prove criminal charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

Senator Marzilli, 49, has always maintained that the accusations were false. He served in the House for 17 years before winning a special election last December to fill an empty spot in the Massachusetts Senate.

Whether you are an ordinary citizen, a public servant, or a high profile celebrity, your personal and professional reputations can suffer when you are wrongly accused of committing a sex crime. The convictions for sex crimes committed in Massachusetts are harsh.

This is why it is so important that you retain the services of an experienced Massachusetts sex crimes law firm that can investigate the accusations against you and aggressively defend you against criminal charges.

Under the Massachusetts General Laws, criminal penalties for an indecent assault and battery conviction include:

Chapter 265: Section 13H. Indecent assault and battery on person fourteen or older; penalties:

Section 13H. Whoever commits an indecent assault and battery on a person who has attained age fourteen shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than five years, or by imprisonment for not more than two and one-half years in a jail or house of correction.

No charges to be filed against Arlington state senator, Boston.com, May 13, 2008
Police investigate allegations that state senator assaulted woman, WBZ.com, April 8, 2008

Related Web Resources:

The General Laws of Massachusetts

State Senator James Marzilli, Mass.gov Continue reading

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77-Year-Old Jane Berghold, the woman who accidentally drove her car into Brockton Hospital last October, has been sentenced to 18 months probation and the revocation of her driver’s license for 15 years. Yesterday, the Rockland senior pled guilty in a Massachusetts court to two counts of homicide by negligent operation of a motor vehicle and one count of negligent operation of a motor vehicle.

Two people died and two others were seriously injured in the fatal drive-thru that occurred when the breast cancer patient’s car flew through the front windows of the hospital’s radiation therapy unit. The victims’ family members said that given her age and medical condition, they believed Berghold’s punishment was appropriate.

Berghold initially told police that she tried to stop the car by stepping on the brakes but it kept moving. She later admitted to the possibility that she may have accidentally stepped on the gas pedal instead. A police probe found that the car sped up to 25 mph before crashing into the hospital.

The deadly accident involving Berghold, is one of a few serious accidents involving elderly drivers that is raising renewed interest in establishing driving laws directed at senior drivers in Massachusetts. In another recent incident in February, an 8-year-old girl was suffered internal injuries, a fractured skull, and a broken leg when an 86-year-old man accidentally struck her with his SUV in front of her Randolph elementary school.

One bill under consideration would mandate that drivers older than 85 take road and vision tests every five years.

In Massachusetts-unlike many other US states-there are no laws that specifically address elderly drivers.

Woman gets probation in fatal hospital crash, Boston.com, May 7, 2008
Patrick calls for tests of elderly drivers, PatriotLedger.com, February 8, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Danger: elderly driver ahead, Boston.com, February 14, 2008
Elderly drivers pose policy-making challenge, Stateline.org, April 29, 2004 Continue reading

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In Cambridge District Court last week, Arlington resident Michael Whalen pled not guilty to kidnapping, threats, and receiving stolen property over $250. A statewide Amber Alert had been issued in Massachusetts on Wednesday after Whalen’s six-month-old son Lucas disappeared.

The baby’s disappearance happened after a Massachusetts Probate and Family Court judge awarded custody of Lucas to his aunt, Sheila Boyle, who cited concern over the baby’s well-being as reason for the custody request. When Boyle went to retrieve the baby, he was gone.

amberalert3.jpg

A Massachusetts prosecutor said that Michael, 42, had threatened to kill Lucas, shoot five people, and commit suicide if anyone tried to take his son. A SWAT team arrested him on Thursday after his rental car was discovered at a Burlington hotel parking lot. Because the car was overdue, he was charged with receiving stolen property.

Lucas was found with Danielle Boyle, who is the baby’s mother and Michael’s girlfriend. A cab driver took Danielle and Lucas to the Arlington police station because she did not have money to pay for her taxi ride. She has not been charged with committing a crime.

Michael’s lawyer says no one saw baby Lucas with his father after he disappeared. In Massachusetts, a parental kidnapping conviction comes with a maximum sentence of one year in the house of corrections.

According to the DSS, the couple has two other children that were put up for adoption after the parents’ legal rights were terminated.

Michael was ordered held on $25,000 bond. He has 72 prior criminal convictions-many of them for minor traffic violations.

Infant’s father charged after Amber Alert set off, Boston.com, May 2, 2008
Prosecutor: Arlington father threatened to kill 6-month-old son in rampage, May 1, 2008

Related Web Resource:

Amber Alert
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A Winthrop High School assistant football coach has been acquitted of charges that he bit someone’s ear in Massachusetts. Charges included two counts of aggravated assault and battery and mayhem. Had Richard Fucillo been convicted, he could have served up to 20 years in prison.

Fucillo, 46, was accused of biting the ear of George Sennott, who he believed was carrying on an affair with his estranged wife. Fucillo, his wife, and Sennott have known each other since grade school.

The altercation took place on March 2007.

Sennott accused Fucillo of flying into a jealous rage because he believed that Sennott was having an affair with his wife and biting his ear so viciously that it nearly tore off. He needed 150 stitches to repair the damage to is ear.

Police say they saw Fucillo jump out of a car while driving down Washington Street and attacking Sennott. Fucillo’s Massachusetts criminal defense attorney, however, says that Sennott had instigated the fight and started assaulting Fucillo first.

Fucillo claims that he was acting in self-defense. He says he did not bite Sennott’s ear. Forensic experts say the injuries caused to Sennott’s ear were not bite-related. Fucillo says that Sennott may have gotten his ear caught in his jacket zipper during the fight.

The Suffolk Superior Court jury issued its not guilty verdict on Wednesday.

Massachusetts assault charges can lead to serious penalties if you are convicted. A good Boston assault attorney can defend you against the charges or determine whether any charges can be dropped or your sentence reduced. If you have been convicted of a crime, you will need a Massachusetts criminal defense lawyer to file your appeal.

Jury acquits man in ear-biting case, Boston.com, April 29, 2008
Police: Football Coach Nearly Bit Man’s Ear Off, WJZ.com, March 19, 2007

Related Web Resource:

Massachusetts General Laws
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