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A Boston Municipal Court judge has dropped the assault and battery with a dangerous weapon charges against Massachusetts State Trooper Joseph Boike for his involvement in a Hub bar brawl with a software engineer and two football players from Boston College in August.

Boike has been a Massachusetts trooper for 20 years. He must still contend with assault charges, but can now be reinstated to the police force now that the felony charge has been tossed out.

Boike is accused of hitting Sean Maney with a bottle during the fight. He was suspended without pay for nearly four months. He was also accused of assault and battery on Christy Osbourne, the girlfriend of Maney’s brother.

Maney also faces charges related to the brawl. The two BC football players, co-captain and offensive linesman Gosder Cherilus and cornerback DeJuan Tribble, were also charged with assaulting Maney. Maney’s neck was broken in the fight. He also sustained other injuries.

Boike is part owner of the Greatest Bar, which is the location where the fight took place.

Felony V. Misdemeaonor
A felony is a more serious charge than a misdemeanor charge. The penalty for a felony conviction is usually tougher. A person may be charged with committing both if the case is very serious. A person can be charged with more than one felony crime and more than one misdemeanor crime at a time. Crimes that can be charged as either a felony crime or a misdemeanor crime-depending on the specifics of the case-are called “wobblers.”

Conviction for a felony crime typically leads to more than one year in prison.

Under the Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 274, Section 1:

Section 1. A crime punishable by death or imprisonment in the state prison is a felony. All other crimes are misdemeanors.

Boston College football players charged with assault, USA Today.com
Judge drops felony charges vs. trooper in Hub bar brawl, Boston Herald, December 27, 2007
Massachusetts General Laws – Felonies, Accessories and Attempts to Commit Crimes – Chapter 274, Section, 1, The General Laws of Massachusetts

Related Web Resource:
Chapter 265: Section 15A. Assault and battery with dangerous weapon; victim sixty or older; punishment; subsequent offenses, The General Laws of Massachusetts Continue reading

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The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority reportedly set a $2.3 million Dig speeding ticket goal for next year-that’s $1.7 million more than 2007. Motorists in the Boston area are expected to be hardest hit by this new target mark, which came about after the Big Dig Tunnel’s collapse, which deplete trooper resources as police officers were forced away from the task of catching speeding motorists while they monitored reconstruction efforts.

To fulfill this goal, radar enforcement will be emphasized.

Across Massachusetts, The turnpike anticipates $5.8 million in speeding ticket revenue for 2008. Revenue for speeding tickets in Massachusetts this year was at $4.6 million.

If you are issued a speeding ticket anywhere in Massachusetts, you should speak with an experienced Massachusetts traffic violations attorney about your case.

Not only will you be ordered to pay a speeding fine, but a speeding ticket can increase your insurance premium. A traffic violations lawyer can help you fight the offense-especially if this is your second or third violation.

The General Laws of Massachusetts:

Chapter 90: Section 17. Speed limits

No person operating a motor vehicle on any way shall run it at a rate of speed greater than is reasonable and proper, having regard to traffic and the use of the way and the safety of the public.

In Massachusetts, the state and auto insurance companies work together to set insurance rates. A traffic ticket immediately results in insurance surcharges. In order to eliminate these surcharges, you cannot get another ticket for at least three years.

Massachusetts State Police Goal: $1.2 Million More Speeding Tickets, The Newspaper.com, December 19, 2007
Troopers target speeders to replenish Pike coffers, BostonHerald.com, December 18, 2007
Chapter 90: Section 17. Speed limits, General Laws of Massachusetts

Related Web Resources:

It pays to avoid a speeding ticket — or fight one, MSN.com
Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles
Continue reading

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US States are reconsidering and, in certain instances, retooling juvenile sentencing laws in regards to whether it makes sense to charge juveniles as adults.

Not only are there less incidents of juvenile crimes now than 20 years ago, but some states are responding to new information about the adolescent brain, as well as studies that reveal how teenagers sent to adult courts end up getting into trouble more often and are convicted of more serious offenses than other adolescents.

Some of the issues being addressed include reconsidering whether it makes sense to convict any teenager of life without parole and raising the age limit of kids who are eligible to go to juvenile court.

About 200,000 juvenile defendants (under 18 years of age) are sent to adult criminal court. A lot of them bypass or are transferred from the juvenile system because their states’ laws define them as adults and the type of crime they committed.

The harsher sentences for juveniles were implemented in the late ’80’s and early ’90’s following an increase of murders and other violent crimes by kids. From 1994 to 2005, however, the rate of arrest for juvenile violent crimes had dropped by 46%.

In Massachusetts, a juvenile can be prosecuted through three kinds of cases:

1) Delinquency cases: The youth is prosecuted in juvenile court and the maximum punishment is commitment to Massachusetts’s Department of Youth Services (DYS) until the age of 18.

2) Youthful Offender cases: Teenager, ages 14-17, can be prosecuted as a Youthful Offender if they committed a felony and a) are already committed to the DYS, b) are charged with a firearm offense, or c) are charged with a crime involving the threat or infliction of physical harm. Adult prison sentences, a DYS commitment until age 21, or a combination of both may result.

3) Murder cases: 14-17 year olds charged with murder are prosecuted in adult Superior Court.

States Rethink Charging Kids as Adults, ABC, December 2, 2007
Youth Advocacy Project

Related Web Resources:

Juvenile Justice Program, Mass.gov
Massachusetts Department of Youth Services
Continue reading

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In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Sentencing Commission wants to retroactively reduce the prison sentences of approximately 19,500 federal inmates convicted of crack cocaine charges.

The decision is intended to lighten sentences retroactively for certain crimes related to crack cocaine and narrow the disparity between sentences for cocaine powder and crack cocaine. Crack cocaine was previously thought to be more dangerous. The U.S. sentencing commission recently reduced the sentences for crack cocaine possession, effective November 1. Under the Sentencing Act of 1984, lowering the penalties for a crime is retroactive.

86% o the 19,500 prisoners serving sentences for crack cocaine convictions are black.

Some 3,800 prisoners could be released within one year of the March 3 effective date, which will give prison officials and judges time to handle a number of issues, including public safety. In Massachusetts, 91 inmates convicted of crack cocaine may find their requests for reduced sentences granted. The decision on whether to reduce their sentences will be made by federal judges.

The Bush administration opposes reducing crack cocaine sentences retroactively. Attorney General Michael Mukasey says that changing the standard retroactively for those that were convicted prior to the rule change would disregard any mitigating factors that judges had considered when setting the prison sentences.

New U.S. Sentencing Guidelines for Crack Cocaine Offenders:

• 1st time offenders convicted of possessing at least 5 grams of crack cocaine must serve 51 to 63 months in prison (previously 63 to 78 months).
• 1st time offenders with a minimum of 50 grams of cocaine may serve 97-121 months in prison (previously 121-151 months).

The majority of the 200,000 federal prisoners in the U.S. are drug offenders. Offenses involving cocaine are covered under federal and state laws.

Crack sentences eligible to be cut, Boston.com, December 12, 2007
Panel Says 19,500 Crack Inmates Can Seek Reduced Sentences, CNN.com/AP, December 12, 2007
Sentencing Commission Votes Unanimously to Apply Amendment Retroactively for Crack Cocaine Offenses, USSC.gov, December 11, 2007
U.S. Sentencing Ranges Lowered for Crack Cocaine, NPR.org, November 2, 2007
Related Web Resources:

United States Sentencing Commission

The Sentencing Project
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In Massachusetts’s Suffolk County, a grand jury indicted former federal prosecutor Philip Giordano on charges that he stole at least $150,000 from his former law firm. The Boston native’s arraignment will take place in Suffolk Superior Court on January 15, 2008.He faces charges that he made false entries in a corporate book, as well as multiple larceny charges.

The Suffolk District Attorney’s office says that Giordano linked his debit card to get money from a Giordano, Champa & Powers account to cover personal expenses and withdraw cash. Giordano is also accused of paying himself thousands of dollars worth of compensation checks. ” At the time, Giordano shared the account with his law partners, Gina DeAcetis Powers and James Champa.

Giordano currently has his own law practice, the Boston-based corporate and securities law firm Giordano & Co. From 1986 to 1991 he served as an assistant U.S. attorney in New Jersey and was a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staff attorney.

Larceny Larceny can include taking any object, embezzlement, check larceny (depositing a check that is not yours), purse stealing, and pick pocketing. When a person embezzles funds, he or she had a legitimate reason to access the funds so the funds could be stolen. Larceny usually doesn’t involve any violence.

Under the Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 266: Section 30. Larceny; general provisions and penalties defines larceny as:

Whoever steals, or with intent to defraud obtains by a false pretence, or whoever unlawfully, and with intent to steal or embezzle, converts, or secretes with intent to convert, the property of another as defined in this section, whether such property is or is not in his possession at the time of such conversion or secreting, shall be guilty of larceny…

The penalty for a Massachusetts larceny crime involving more than $250 dollars is five years maximum in prison or up to two years and $25,000 maximum fine.

Former Federal Prosecutor Accused of Raiding Law Firm Account, ABA Journal.com, December 20, 2007
Former fed prosecutor indicted on larceny charges, Boston Herald, December 20, 2007
Chapter 266. Crimes Against Property, The General Laws of Massachusetts

Related Web Resources:

Larceny, Lectlaw.com Continue reading

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In Massachusetts, Eber A. Rivera, a 23-year-old Framingham homeless man was arrested on Saturday and charged in the stabbing attack of a Framingham resident on Beaver Street. Charges include assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; assault with the intent to commit a felony; assault and battery on a disabled or injured person; assault with the intent to murder or maim; and disturbing the peace.

The stabbing victim was found with multiple stab wounds. One stab just missed the victim’s heart. Police say that the injuries are very serious. The victim was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

Police are trying to discover a motive for the attack. Rivera told authorities that the victim was disrespectful to him. Local police don’t think that Rivera and the victim had met prior to the incident.

Rivera was covered with blood when he fled the assault scene and encountered a police vehicle responding to a call about the attack. Rivera led police on a food chase before he was arrested.

In Massachusetts, the maximum penalties that come for being convicted of the crimes that Rivera is charged with include:

• Assault and battery: 2 ½ years maximum in a house of correction or a $1,000 maximum fine
• Assault with intent to murder or maim: 10 year-maximum prison sentence
• Assault and battery on a disabled or injured person: Up to three years in state prison
Just because you are arrested for assault and battery doesn’t mean you are guilty. There may be evidence that can be legally suppressed or motions that can be dismissed or charges that can be dropped. Your Massachusetts criminal defense lawyer may be able to work out a plea agreement with the prosecution.

Being convicted of a crime has serious consequences on your life and the lives of your loved ones. It is so important that you hire an experienced Massachusetts criminal defense attorney who will defend you and protect your rights.

Man stabbed near heart in Framingham, MetroWest Daily News, December 16, 2007
Massachusetts General Laws – Crimes Against the Person – Chapter 265, Section 15A, Onecle.com

Related Web Resource:

Massachusetts Sentencing Guidelines, The Massachusetts Court System Continue reading

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In Massachusetts, the second murder trial of former Harvard graduate student Alexander Pring-Wilson has ended in a mistrial. Middlesex Superior Court judge Christopher Muse granted a mistrial in the case because the jury was hopelessly deadlocked. They were unable to reach a verdict after deliberating for 10 days.

Pring-Wilson, 29, is charged with manslaughter in the 2003 stabbing murder of 18-year-old Michael Colono. The killing took place in Cambridge during a drunken, late-night brawl. Wilson stabbed Colono a number of times with a military folding knife.

Pring-Wilson was convicted of manslaughter in 2004 and sentenced to six to eight years in prison. In 2005, his conviction was overturned and the Massachusetts’s Supreme Judicial Court, however, granted him a new trial when it ruled that jurors should have been informed of Colono’s criminal and violent history.

The 29-year-old former student has always maintained that he acted in self-defense and that Colono and his cousin were the instigators of the attack. Pring-Wilson has been out on bail since his conviction was overturned.

If you have been arrested for any kind of crime in Massachusetts, you should speak with an experienced criminal defense attorney immediately. Even when all the evidence is against you, a good criminal defense attorney can still determine whether there are special circumstances that could persuade the persecution to charge you with a lesser crime or convince a jury to set you free. You deserve a fair trial.

Mistrial
A mistrial is a trial that ends before a resolution is reached. A judge can grant a mistrial for different reasons. A jury may have become tainted because it was given improper evidence. A jury is unable to reach a verdict. The defense or the prosecution may ask for the mistrial.

It is not known at this time whether Pring-Wilson will stand trial for a third time.

When a mistrial is declared, a new trial may be granted. Or, if circumstances allow the defendant to cite the Double Jeopardy Clause-which makes it impossible for the person to be tried more than once for the same crime-the defendant may go free.

Mistrial granted in trial of Harvard graduate student, Boston Globe, December 14, 2007
Ex-Harvard Student’s Retrial Ends In Mistrial, BostonChannel.com, December 14, 2007

Related Web Resource:

Justice for Alexander Pring-Wilson
Continue reading

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The mother and stepfather of 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers now face capital murder charges in the death of the little girl. The decision was made by a grand jury in Texas where Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 19, and Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 24, will stand trial. Prosecutors are deciding whether to push for the death penalty.

On October 29, Riley’s body was found wrapped in black plastic bags that had been stuffed a blue, plastic bin on an island in the Galveston Bay.

Police named the toddler “Baby Grace” because they did not know her identity. Riley’s paternal grandmother called police and told them that the drawing of the unidentified girl resembled Riley Ann.

Tampering with evidence and injury to a child were the initial charges filed against Zeigler and Trenor. Since then, however, police have found more evidence to warrant the more serious charge.

Trenor confessed to police that Zeigler beat her daughter with leather belts. Riley then was tossed across a room before she was held under water until she died. Riley’s skull was fractured in three areas-each one of them fatal. She was beaten for 4-6 hours.

Trenor says that the beating happened on July 24 because Riley wouldn’t say “yes, sir” and “please.” She and her husband hid her daughter’s body in a storage shed for several weeks before tossing it in the bay.

Trenor’s defense lawyer says that Zeigler wanted his client to hit Riley with a belt when she didn’t comply with his wishes. The beatings happened on the day he stayed home to make sure that Trenor was following his disciplinary plan. The couple supposedly did not intend to kill Riley.

Trenor says she wanted to call 911 but Zeigler wouldn’t allow it.

Capital murder is a very serious offense that can lead to the death penalty. Circumstances that can lead to a capital murder charge include murdering someone younger than 6 years of age, murdering a fireman or police officer, murder after escaping prison, murder while committing sexual assault, kidnapping, terrorism, or another capital felony.

Couple face capital murder charges in Baby Grace death, CNN.com, December 13, 2007
Mother’s lawyer: Child killed for failing to say ‘please, CNN.com, November 29, 2007

Related Web Resource:

Affidavit for Probable Cause of Arrest and Complaint (PDF)
Continue reading

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44-year-old Stevie Walker is on Trial in Suffolk Superior Court for the November 4, 2005 stabbing murder of Galina Kotik, a 65-year-old Russian grandmother, inside her Fenway apartment building in Boston.

Walker had been smoking crack cocaine for up to 24 hours before he went to Kotik’s building to visit an acquaintance and figure out a plan to rob her so he could get more drugs.

A witness for the prosecution testified on Tuesday about how Kotik’s dying cries could be heard. Valentina Tsodikovich says she saw a man with blood on his clothes flee the murder scene.

Kotik was a nursing assistant. Prosecutors say that she pulled out one of the Walker’s dreadlocks and scratched his face during the attack. They say that Walker smashed in the elderly woman’s head with an ashtray and stabbed her nearly two dozen times.

Walker’s defense attorney admits that his client did kill Kotik. However, he is asking the jury to consider convicting Walker of a lesser charge than first-degree murder.

Walker has a personality disorder and does not remember killing Kotik. After the attack, he fled to a parking garage in the area and got trapped in a storage closet for approximately 40 hours. He escaped through a window and went to a police station where he fell asleep. He was arrested there.

Defense acknowledges violence of killer, Boston.com, December 11, 2007
Gruesome testimony in trial of man charged with murder of elderly woman, Boston Herald.com, December 11, 2007

Related Web Resources:

Massachusetts General Laws

Legal Definition of First-Degree Murder, Lectlaw.com Continue reading

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The FBI says that the number of hate crimes committed in the United States grew by almost 8%, with racism being the reason for more than 50% of the incidents.

In 2006, police in the US reported 7,722 crimes occurred because of prejudice against someone due to their sexual orientation, race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, or disability. There were 7,163 hate crimes reported the year prior.

12,600 out of over 17,000 federal, state, county, and local police agencies provided information to the FBI study.

Here is a breakdown of the different hate crimes included in the report:

• 5,549 of the hate crime incidents targeted individuals • 38 was aimed at society in general • 3,593 incidents involved the destruction of property • 2,911 incidents involved vandalism or property damage • 2,046 offenses involved intimidation • 1,447 simple assaults • 860 aggravated assaults
• 41 arsons • 3 murders • 6 rapes • More than half the 7,330 offenders were Caucasian • 20% of them were Black • 12.9% were of other origins • 31% of the hate crime incidents took place near homes • 18% took place on streets • 12% at schools • 6.1% in parking areas • 3.9% in churches, temples, or synagogues
Hate crimes in Massachusetts are considered serious crimes with fines and prison time if a person is convicted. A hate crime involving assault or battery upon a property or person can result in a fine of up to 5,000 and up to 2.5 years in a house of correction.

A person convicted of a hate crime that causes bodily injury to the victim in Massachusetts can end up paying a fine as high as $10,000 and spending up to 10 years in prison.

FBI: Hate crimes jump nearly 8 percent, CNN.com, November 19, 2007
Chapter 265. Crimes Against the Person, Mass.gov
Information on Charging Hate Crimes Under Massachusetts Law, Mass.doe.mass.edu

Related Web Resources:

Hatecrime.org

Hate Crime, FBI Continue reading

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