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As is evident by now to even the most casual observer of the criminal justice system…defendants often are sentenced to a period of incarceration. Sometimes it is the local House of Corrections (jail). Sometimes it is the state prison (“state time”). Whether they are there for OUI, rape or manslaughter, there is one thing that all of these involuntary guests of the Commonwealth have in common.

They want to get out. And for the most part, they will.

Some day.

How does that happen? Can your lawyer help you with that?

Attorney Sam’s Take On Can Your Attorney Help You With Parole

Unlike a criminal appeal, parole is usually possible whether the defendant pleaded guilty or was found guilty by a judge or jury. The “when” of first applying for parole depends on the sentence given by the court.
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Edwin Perez was a 24-year-old man of Springfield.The other night, he was sitting in a chair outside with an infant on his lap. Today, he stands accused of assault and battery charges as well as gun possession.

I thought that the tale of Mr. Perez (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) was a suitable follow-up to yesterday’s Attorney Sam’s Take. It illustrates another example of a somewhat unusual assault and battery case.

As the Defendant sat with the infant, someone had complained to the Massachusetts State Police that he possessed a weapon. The officers went to investigate.
According to the officers, as soon as the Defendant saw them approach, he “immediately threw the infant to the ground” and ran.

As usual, he did not get far. The troopers chased him. The Defendant is said to have then pulled a loaded gun from his waistband, and tried to fight off officers in a “violent struggle”.

He did not win the struggle.
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In a turn of events that harkens back to 19th century tales of dusty towns and quick draw artists, or perhaps the 21st century HBO series, Deadwood, my metrosexual sensibilities were shocked when I learned that cattle rustling is still alive and kicking. Two Mondays ago, on September 3, 2012, media outlets reported that most of the 49 cows that were stolen just two days earlier from a Dartmouth Farm were found, a few hundred miles away at an auction site in Pennsylvania. Dartmouth Police Sergeant Allen Shaw confirmed that 39 of the cattle were found in New Holland, Pennsylvania. The find came with the help of the cows’ owner, Ahmed Mahmoud, acting on a tip.

At the time of the discovery, police were still investigating but had only a few details about the theft and the location of the other cows. The animals were valued at approximately $50,000 and the thieves made away with them from the communal farm on Old Fall River Road late Saturday night, September 1, 2012.

After only three more days, reports began to surface that the remaining cows were successfully reclaimed. The final remnants of the stolen livestock had been stashed much closer to home, only about forty miles away in Medway, Massachusetts. At the time, suspects had been identified but no arrests or charges had been made.
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A pool party that was tagged as a fundraiser turned into a spectacle that has been reported on internationally and described as ‘liquor-soaked’ by journalists. As many as fifteen hundred people gathered at a mansion on Mark Lane in Milton, Massachusetts to enjoy a pool party during Labor Day Weekend. Milton Police arrived shortly before 1am on Saturday morning, September 1, 2012. The homeowner, Steve Mathieu, 40, was present. And Deputy Police Chief Charles Paris described the size of the event as “just astounding.” He and five other present officers were able to shut the party down in an orderly fashion with no arrests being made. According to Paris, all of the partiers were 21 years or older and though there were a few noise complaints, most neighbors were simply perturbed with the impossible parking situation.

The event was promoted via twitter and fliers as the “Make it Nasty Pool Party.” Hosts sent out a bevy of brochures to market the gala. The brochures stated that the tickets were $15 in advance or $20 at the door. Guests were able to pre-order bottles of alcohol or use the cash bar at the mansion. The event was jointly presented and promoted by Broz 4 Life and Bed Rock Bros.

Milton’s building and health department are looking into the event as most of the one thousand to fifteen hundred guests were spending their time in the pool house located next to the mansion. That many people crowded together under one roof may have violated a building code and the health department traditionally establishes the occupancy restrictions for the pools.

Officer Paris had stated that Mathieu will likely be summoned to court and charged with serving alcohol without a license. After his initial investigation, that seemed to be the only illegal activity at the event. The license needed can only be provided by the local licensing authority.
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This morning of September 12, 2012, Boston Police have announced that they are on the lookout for a woman who robbed a Citizens Bank and appeared to be pregnant in a surveillance video. Police acknowledged that pregnancy may have purely been feigned as a disguise but are still alerting the public in the hopes of generating information about her whereabouts.

On this past Monday afternoon, September 10, 2012, a woman walked into a Citizens Bank and gave the teller a note saying that she had a gun and that she wanted all of the money in the drawer. The suspect then escaped the scene on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash. The culprit was described as a white woman with black hair and standing approximately at five feet and four inches. At the time of the robbery, she was wearing sunglasses and a shirt that was cream in color with light blue pants.

Police are seeking out any help from the public in identifying the woman. Pictures are available at the links posted at the end of the blog entry. If you do have any information, you are urged to call the District A-1 detectives at 617.343.4470 or text the word TIP to Crime. You may also contact the Bank Robbery Task Force at 617-742-5533. Any information that leads to an arrest or indictment is eligible to be rewarded with $1,000.
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Massachusetts assault and battery charges, with or without a dangerous weapon can be prosecuted in fact scenarios which may surprise you.

Many people are still surprised by what can constitute a “dangerous weapon”. Today, Attorney Sam’s Take will break it down for you.

To prosecute for an assault, the Commonwealth need only show you threatened somebody with something in their presence, putting them reasonably in fear.

To prosecute for a battery, the Commonwealth’s burden is to prove a touching that the touchee found offensive. No matter how slight or for what reason.

A deadly weapon? Virtually anything..

Let’s turn to some events which apparently took place on Sunday early evening.

50-year-old Robert Tiernan was whacking some weeds with his weed-whacker near a fence. On the other side of that fence was a couple who were outside looking at their garden.

Or, at least, Trying to..
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Murder, rape and robbery. Perpetrators, heroes and victims. Sometimes there is a clear deliniation between them.

Sometimes there isn’t.

Today, September 11th, Attorney Sam’s Take will take you to a story similar to the horror of that day in 2001 in that the crimes are horrible and the words “victim” and “hero” are interchangeable. In fact, the term “perpetrator” is also blurred.

The case comes from New Jersey. There, a 6-year-old boy whose throat was slashed by an intruder high on PCP-laced marijuana was killed trying to save his sister. He was coming to her aid as she was being assaulted on the floor,according to law enforcement.

Thirty-one-year-old Osvaldo Rivera (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) has been charged with the who is charged in the middle-of-the-night attack. He was held on $5 million bail.

During an interrogation, the Defendant is said to have asked, “How bad did I hurt them?”

Both children had been sleeping downstairs when the attack begain according to law enforcement. The girl, 12 years of age, says that she had also been raped by the Defendant. When her brother intervened, she ran out of the house for help. her windpipe had been slashed. Nevertheless, she was able to help lead the police to the Defendant.

He was found hiding between a mattress and bedroom wall. Police say they also found blood-stained sneakers that matched bloody footprints in the home where the children were assaulted.

 The Defendant has been charged with murder and attempted murder, but prosecutors said more charges will be filed. Authorities said he had a drug arrest in 2009 but no other convictions.

The Defendant is also said to have been under the influence of marijuana and PCP. The police suspect that there is somethng in this brand of PCP which creates users hallucinatory, incoherent and exhibiting violent outbursts. In fact, this matter is the second such incident reported. Less than two week prior, a Camden woman decapitated her 2-year-old son, called 911 to admit stabbing the child, then killed herself.
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Today, Attorney Sam’s Take begins a discussion which touches upon a parent’s worst fears…two of them actually. The first is their child becoming addicted to illegal drugs. The other is that child getting a criminal record or even being incarcerated.

Often, these nightmares come wrapped together in a package deal from hell.

The last few blogs, both my daily Attorney Sam’s Takes and those posted by someone else have touched upon the nightmare package.

Things are apparently getting worse. Now, for example, drug-sniffing dogs are being brought into more than 100 high schools in Eastern Massachusetts to search for such illegal contraband. In Quincy, video cameras follow students in the hallways while plainclothes security guards stay alert for drug activity. At Westford Academy, where students admitting in a survey to marijuana use jumped from 16 percent to 25 percent in the past decade, the principal decided to add a full-time police officer to the staff. Newton North High School has stepped up its counseling as it is considered the best way to reach students.

Attorney Sam’s Take On The Criminal Justice Approach To Your Juveniles

There is no question that drugs and alcohol in schools is a huge concern for us both as parents and as a society. However, today, I want to focus on the cost to our kids by this usual law enforcement approach to the problem.
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On Wednesday night, at approximately 9:53pm, according to reports, Boston police officers assigned to the Youth Violence Strike Force were patrolling an area near Lyford and Oakhurst Streets, not far from the border between Dorchester and Mattapan, when several shots were heard. Police then saw several males chasing a single male, hopped out of their cruisers, and ordered the minors to stop. Only the one who looked like he was being chased obeyed. He then explained that the pack he was fleeing had shot at him.

Police soon found a male trying to hide by lying in the backyard of a nearby house. The suspect had several rounds of ammunition in his pocket and a gun consistent with that ammunition was found close by. Several spent rounds were also discovered. The young male was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling. While being taken away the sixteen year old allegedly asked how much time he was going to get.
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While carrying out her routine patrol duty in Swansea, Massachusetts at around 1:30am, Officer Sheila Valero noticed a curious site. Streams of toilet paper littered and coiled about the property, trees, and school buses of Joseph Case High School. According to further reports, plastic utensils on the ground spelled out “Somerset,” a neighboring town of Swansea. On the surface, perhaps this was a harmless prank borne from teenaged rebellion or boredom. But the bicycle chains that someone used to lock the doors triggered felony charges. Officer Valero was forced to call the fire department to come cut the chains in case of an emergency.

Not much time passed before the police found two of the suspects at a Target store. The pair eventually shared the information of their accomplices with the authorities. The police had no trouble finding the other suspects as their parents were willing to assist them with their search. One was found close to the same Target. And the final two were found a few hours later on Stevens Road, several miles away from the school they had allegedly vandalized. The quintet were identified as William Boulay, 20, Edward Cellemme, 19, Bruce Antone, 19, Evan Sorsa, 18, and a fifth member who was 17 years of age at the time of his arrest. Two of the five attend Joseph Case High which carried out classes without interruption despite the toilet paper violation.

All of the suspects have been charged with malicious destruction of property valued at over $250, defacement of real property, conspiracy, and trespassing. The results of their arraignment on Friday, September 7, 2012, at Fall River District Court have not yet been released through the media.
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