Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog

According to media reports, David Ettlinger-a second grade teacher at Newton public schools-was arrested this week on child pornography charges. Recent updates indicate that Ettlinger, 34, is now also facing charges of indecent assault of a child under the age of 14.

Several sexualized images of minors were allegedly found on the teacher’s home computer at his Commonwealth Avenue residence. Image(s) of a 12-year-old family friend, as well as a video of Ettlinger having sexual contact with a female minor, were also allegedly discovered on the laptop, which was seized by investigators. According to news reports, multiple pairs of young girls’ underwear were found in his residence as well

The Underwood Elementary School and the surrounding community are quite alarmed about the charges, but no evidence has been found that Ettlinger’s students have been victimized. Reports suggest that Ettlinger, who has taught with Newton public schools for 12 years, otherwise appears to have a clean criminal record. He was apparently a popular teacher at the school.

Attorney Sam’s Take On Martin Luther King And Credibility

In the courts of justice, whether they be criminal or civil, the issue of
credibility is always imperative. Technically, of course, I have already
mis-stated the law. This is because a person’s credibility is not considered an
issue unless that person testifies as a witness.

At least, that is what the law says. However, I am referring to reality.

As you may know, this Boston criminal lawyer has years of experience
as a lecturer and trainer of law students and new lawyers alike. What I tell
my students is that anyone who is in front of the jury has their credibility
being considered by jurors throughout the trial. This is true whether the
person is a lawyer or a witness. Whether that person is testifying…or simply sitting down with counsel. The jury is always watching.

And, be assured, it is critical to the particular cause at issue.

However, credibility is a tricky thing. It is often effected by our various
prejudices and preconceived notions.

“Sam, weren’t’ t you going to be writing to Dr. King today instead of just
pontificating about how much you know about trials?”

Yes and no. There are many lessons we can learn from Dr. King and his
experiences. And some of them have to do with the criminal justice system.
After all, he took on the establishment. He broke laws…laws we now realize
were unjust. However, it took folks like Dr. King to challenge them in order
for us to begin our path of understanding equality.

A path that has not yet come to an end, I might add.

Dr. King served time in jail. No, he was not a violent felon, a drug dealer or
drunk driver. He did, however, commit crimes that were in existence at the
time. In fact, he wrote from jail, one of the his classic works now referred to
as the “Letter From A Birmingham Jail”.
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2011 is now history in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In preparation for the changing of the year, a group called “AboutBail” compiled a list of some of the highest bail amounts throughout the country in 2011.

Let’s take a look, changing the actual names of the defendants, at seven of the ten listed:

1.19-year-old Gary Gunplay from Elgin, Illinois. He was a “known” gang member facing nine counts of felony shootings. With cases pending, Gary was stopped during an alleged traffic violation. Outstanding warrants were discovered and, despite trying to flee, he was caught. With two loaded handguns. Bail $2,250,000

2.19-year-old Gary Grabby of Glendale, California was arrested for sexually assaulting two brothers, ages 8 and 3, while babysitting. Bail: $2,700,000

3.Dave Daddykiller was a Chicago, Illinois gentleman accused of helping another gentleman kill Dave’s father. Dave had met his pal while serving time and the two allegedly bound, gagged and killed his father. The alleged murder was also found to be a violation of parole. Bail: $3,000,000, until the parole violation hearing, when he was held without bail.

4.Sheldon Shopper of Chicago, Illinois, was accused of stabbing three people at a Walmart. Under the influence of narcotics, he is claimed to have entered the store with a nine-inch butcher’s knife and stabbing three people with it. He was charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault. Bail: $3,000,000.

5.Billy Bullets was a Knoxville, Tennessee man who was arrested for theft, aggravated assault, felony murder and first degree murder. Apparently, Mr. Bullets went to a pawn shop and asked to see an unloaded shotgun. “seeing it” ended up resulting in his loading it with ammunition he had brought with him and shooting the employee who was helping him. Bail: $4,000,000.

6.Ricky Robber was a Fayette County, Indiana gent who actually failed at his attempt at robbing a CVS store. According to the government, he wore a wig, glasses and mustache (and a gun) at the robbery scene. They also say that said items were found in the home in which he was staying…along with blood-spattered clothing and a gun that “may have” been used to murder five people. Believed to be a flight risk, bail was set at $5,000,000

7.Dilbert Diplomat was a well-known French national and former head of the International Monetary fund. He was grabbed on charges of attempted rape, sexual abuse, forcible touching, unlawful imprisonment and a criminal set act. The complainant used to be an unknown Manhattan housekeeper. His bail conditions amounted to $6,000,000

The government then dropped the charges against him because they decided the complainant was not believable..

Attorney Sam’s Take On The Rationale Of Bail

Looking at these rather high bail amounts might give you the idea that there is little, if any, consistency when it comes to the mandating of bail amounts. For example, one would expect the bail for murder to be higher than someone accused of attempted robbery or even sexual assault.
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Hello and happy new year. Yes, the (attempted) daily Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog is back!

I hope you had a great holiday season. For some, however, it did not end so smoothly. Let’s look to Norton, Massachusetts, for one such tale. It’s results may surprise you.

At approximately 5pm on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, a 66-year-old woman was walking her two dogs. In the same southeast MA location, an off-duty state trooper was hunting deer.

The trooper mistook the dogs for deer.

So he shot the woman. She was hit in the torso.

The trooper called 911 after realizing the error; he had mistaken the trails of the two dogs for that of one deer.

While we know the woman was brought to a Rhode Island hospital, no further information about her has been released. The state police apparently performed an investigation which lasted about one day, when they announced the shooting was an accident. The trooper’s information has also been withheld because he faces no Criminal charges.

Attorney Sam’s Take On Accidental Shooting Investigations

Do you think that you would receive such a swift benefit of the doubt if you were in the the trooper’s predicament?

Last month, we discussed how what used to be considered accidents and civil matters are now being prosecuted as crimes. Not here though. It was already released that criminal charges are not expected.

“Why does that strike you as ‘interesting’, Sam? Surely you do not believe that the officer intentionally shot the woman.”

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