Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog

May 6, 2015

DNA EVIDENCE: IN MURDER CASES, IT CAN BRING DEATH TO THE INNOCENT

Let’s not accept the exception to the rule as a substitute for the general criminal justice rule. Particularly in cases where the stakes are as high as they are in murder cases. Especially when the penalties are either death or life imprisonment without the chance of parole.

The Dzhokhar Tsarnaev case is the exception. Very rarely do you have defense attorneys get up in the beginning of a trial to proclaim their client guilty as charged. More often, there is some question as to guilt or innocence.

Take instead the Washington D.C. case of Santae Tribble. Mr. Tribble was a 17-year-old man in 1978. That was when he was accused of murdering a taxi driver. Thanks mostly to the expert testimony of an analyst with the Federal Bureau of Investigation about DNA found on hair strands, Mr. Tribble was found guilty and received a sentence of 20 years to life in prison.

It turns out that the expert had been wrong. The hair did not belong to Mr. Tribble. In fact, it turned out that some of the hair was not even human hair. It had come from a dog.

May 5, 2015

MASACHUSETTS FEDERAL JURY FINALLY SEES EMOTION FROM BOSTON MARATHON BOMBER

by Samuel Goldberg

As you may recall, we were talking about death and were about to move on to the convicted Boston Marathon Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (hereinafter, “Convicted”).

As you no doubt know, Convicted is now sitting through the penalty phase of his murder trial in Boston’s Federal District Court. As he has been convicted in federal court, he is eligible for the death penalty. The hearing going on now is to convince the jury to either sentence him to life in prison or to death.

While the court has, and will continue to, tell the jurors that they are not to make this decision based on sympathy or emotion, clearly that is what both sides are trying to do.
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April 30, 2015

MASSACHUSETTS MURDER AND SEX TRIALS…DEATH IS NOT FAR AWAY

by Samuel Goldberg

This is “D-week” for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the convicted Marathon bomber. This has brought up a new discussion about the death penalty. That new discussion has brought up some facts which should frighten you a great deal.

We will get to them.

Presently, there is no death penalty in Massachusetts state court…even in cases of Murder in the First Degree the sentence is life in prison without parole. It is the Federal Criminal Justice System which still employs the use of death as a punishment for certain crimes by the government.

Before I discuss further the new discussion referenced above, I want to point out that death can be the result of criminal prosecution in more than one way.

April 22, 2015

MASSACHUSETTS SEXUAL ASSAULT AND THE DEFENSE OF CONSENT

by Samuel Goldberg

In my last posting, we discussed Emmanuel Bile and his conviction in the rape trial that had just ended.

After the sentencing hearing, Mr. Bile was sentenced to serve eight to ten years in Massachusetts State Prison.

The complainant addressed the court at the hearing. She told the judge that “That night nearly broke me.” She spoke of an “indescribable emptiness and sadness” that consumed her life after the rape, and said she felt that Bile had treated her as “less than human.”

The prosecutor recommended a ten to twelve year sentence in state prison term followed by five years of probation. She argued ,”These are some of the worst acts we can imagine in our society.” She also referred to what she called Bile’s “lack of remorse”, the victim’s vulnerability during the incident, and the lasting impact on the woman.

“It’s absolutely clear her entire life has changed because of this,” the prosecutor said of the woman.

Defense counsel recommended a prison sentence of four-and-a-half to eight-and-a-half years followed by probation, arguing that Bile — eighteen at the time of the incident — was young and naive.
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April 8, 2015

PITTSFIELD JURY TRIAL OF UMASS AMHERST RAPE SUSPECTS ENDS IN CONVICTION

by Samuel Goldberg

We have had a number of discussions about how schools (primarily colleges) grapple with the allegations of sex crimes. Some of the “new” and “improved” solutions have boarded on the ludicrous in my experienced opinion, but that is an issue for another day.

Today we visit one of the cases which led to the present state of affairs of said college self-analysis. It is a case from Northampton, Massachusetts. The University involved is the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It is a case which began in October, 2012. I blogged about it, which posting can be found here.

The case involved four defendants from Pittsfield. They are apparently being tried separately and the first trial just finished. None of them were students at the school, although one young man, Emmanuel Bile, 21, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”), knew the complainant.

He was the first to be brought to trial.

March 25, 2015

ARRESTED FOR DRUG POSSESSION? WHAT PRISON SENTENCES SHOULD YOU BE FACING?

by Samuel Goldberg

Last week, we began discussing the issue of mandatory minimum prison sentences in drug cases. The Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court himself has come out in favor of abolishing the statutes containing these penalties.

The District Attorney of Suffolk County, a political advocate for punishing crime in general disagreed.

While one would assume that I would tend not to be of the same opinion as DA Conley, one has to admit that both men have been around the Massachusetts criminal justice system for a long time.

So have I, although the second half of the 1980’s found me as a prosecutor in Brooklyn, New York.

It was the time of the crack, cocaine explosion. At least in Brooklyn, it hit the criminal justice system like an explosion and created havoc.

March 21, 2015

FRANKLIN MAN FACES HIS FOURTH OUI AS WELL AS LEAVING THE SCENE OF AN ACCIDENT CHARGES

by Samuel Goldberg

Law enforcement is often on high alert for drunken behavior…particularly drunk driving…during holidays. Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17th, is one such holiday.

‘Nuff said.

Apparently, Franklin’s Dominick Revell, 43, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) did not get that particular memo. The Commonwealth alleges that he was operating his vehicle under the influence on Tuesday.

So they arrested him.

The Defendant was brought to court and arraigned on Wednesday at the West Roxbury District Court. The Commonwealth told the court that he was found unconscious at about 8:50 p.m. Tuesday in a car outside a McDonald’s restaurant on American Legion Highway in Roslindale. It was there, they claimed, that he had allegedly rear-ended a 77-year-old Mattapan man’s vehicle in the drive-through.

March 19, 2015

PENALTIES FOR MASSACHUSETTS DRUG CRIMES ARE DEBATED BY TOP LAW ENFORCEMENT AND TOP JUDGE

by Samuel Goldberg

…And so the “war against drugs” continues…more or less.

The question today is one of penalty. In other words, the prisoners of the drug wars. What do you do with them once you’ve got them?

On the criminal justice platter is the question of mandatory minimum prison sentences for those convicted of participating in drug crimes. We have discussed this issue a number of times. Usually, defense attorneys are against such sentences as they currently exist. Prosecutors, at least those who have media priviledge, are for them.

Now, the Supreme Judicial Court Chief , Justice Ralph D. Gants, has come out against such sentences.

Justice Gants’ view, no doubt based on many years of experience as a lawyer (including as a prosecutor) as well as on the bench, is contrary to that of Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. Legal politics being what it is, DA Conley sped up to the same legal summit at which Justice Gants had expressed his view to blast said Justice and his view.

March 18, 2015

SURVELIENCE VIDEOS ARE PRESENTED IN FALL RIVER MURDER TRIAL OF AARON HERNANDEZ

by Samuel Goldberg

As you are probably aware, the first murder trial of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) continues in Fall River. In this case, he is charged with the June 17, 2013, killing of Odin Lloyd.

No doubt, many interesting facts and allegations have come to light during the testimony. There is one aspect of the testimony which I think is particularly noteworthy and something you should realize.

It can be summed up in one word. Surveillance.

In the Defendant’s case, surveillance videos have been played to the jurors allegedly showing the Defendant’s movements during various times around the alleged time of the murder. Continue reading

February 24, 2015

MICHAEL JORDAN IS ARRESTED FOR SHOOTING MURDER IN COPELY SQUARE

by Samuel Goldberg

There is an abundance of high profile criminal cases pending in various courts. A number of these cases feature sports figures in the role of “The Defendant”. However, no, this is not that Michael Jordan.

This Michael Jordan is a 27-year-old Boston gent (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) who has been charged with gunning down another man in the shadow of one of Boston’s most famous houses of worship, Trinity Church in the Copley Square area.

He has been ordered held without bail..

He was arraigned and has pleaded “not guilty” to first-degree murder and other charges. The allegations date back to August 2013 when he is alleged to have shot and killed 22-year-old Ahmir Lee.
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