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There are alleged truths that we treasure about our criminal justice system. We hold these beliefts dear because they make us the “fairest” system in the world.

Among them are the following:

1. All accused are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

2.We believe that a jury verdict is the word of the people, our peers. Except in situations where we find that the judge made a legal error that deprived the defendant of a fair trial, we generally adopt the jury verdict as truth.

3.Our system is as compassionate as possible. While we also wish to punish, our other main objectives in passing down criminal sentences are consideration of the defendant’s past and hope for his/her rehabilitation, the effect of the case on the victims and the protection of the community.

Now, let’s apply these beliefs to the verdict and sentencing in Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Mark Kerrigan, a Middlesex County homicide trial.
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Yesterday, you may have heard me criticizing the Honorable Judge S. Jane Haggerty with regard to the sentencing of Mark Kerrigan (hereinafter the “Defendant”) on the radio. As you know, the Woburn homicide trial ended with a conviction of straight Massachusetts assault and battery.

Next came yesterday’s sentencing.

As predicted, it was a morning of emotion and tension.

The Commonwealth asked for the maximum possible sentence…2 ½ years in jail.

The family and the defense requested what is known as a “split sentence” – a 6-month suspended sentence followed by a year of probation. The Defendant had already served 4 months and so would be eligible for parole immediately.

The judge? She whacked the Defendant, giving him the 2 ½ year sentence, 2 years to serve now, the rest on Massachusetts probation.

What does all this mean?
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If you thought you heard a familiar voice and name (mine) on WBZ radio today, you were correct. I was interviewed about today’s Kerrigan verdict.

As you know, Mark Kerrigan, brother of famous Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan and hereinafter the “Defendant”, has been on trial in Middlesex County Superior Court in Woburn. The Defendant was charged with killing his father during an argument.

Today, the jury came back from deliberations. The decision was “not guilty” of Massachusetts manslaughter and “guilty” of the Assault and Battery count.

Now, while the parties prepare for tomorrow’s sentencing, prosecutors are announcing their dissatisfaction with the verdict and Nancy Kerrigan is speaking for her family indicating that they did not want any prosecution at all. So, it’s a sure bet they will ask for no jail time while the Commonwealth likely seeks the maximum.

Meantime, the Defendant remains in custody.
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The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Boston has ruled in favor of the prosecution. The type of case? Operating under the influence.

As you may know, when one is pulled over by police, and suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, one is offered the opportunity to try their luck in a variety of mini-contests. These would include various field sobriety tests as well as the breathalyzer machine.

The SJC has now ruled that the Commonwealth need not call a technician to testify that the breathalyzer used was working properly at the time in question.

The matter originated with a Greenfield woman who had been convicted of drunk driving. Her Massachusetts drunk driving attorney argued that, since the certification of the breathalyzer was introduced into evidence, that the defendant had the right to cross-examine a live witness with regard to said certification. The purpose, of course, would be to call into question how closely the machine had been inspected so that the jury could decide for itself whether they believed the machine was working properly.

After all, the United States Constitution’s Sixth Amendment indicates that a criminal defendant has the right to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses. The defense argued that the certificate is testimony in itself and one cannot cross-examine a piece of paper. Thus, the preparer of said certificate should be called to testify by the Commonwealth.
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Michael Varano, 52, of Bridgewater (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) and his son are now facing criminal charges. It was a Massachusetts theft.

The victim? A local church.

According to the Commonwealth, the Defendant and his 11-year-old son are accused of a Brockton burglary at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish and stealing food from its kitchen last Friday night. In true Christian spirit, the Reverend Joseph Roeke, representing the church seeks compassion in handling the crime.

“It’s a very sad situation,” Raeke said in a phone interview. “If he had let me know he was in such dire need of food, we would have given him some food.”

Police called Raeke to identify the stolen food, which, he said, included juice boxes, cookies, and other snack foods allegedly stolen from “The Enterprise”, the church’s kitchen, located in Brockton. The food had been meant for the celebration of a new priest’s first Mass, Raeke said.

“I think we need to be praying for people who feel so desperate,” Raeke said.
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When we began discussing the tragic tale of Julianne McCrery (hereinafter, the “Defendant”), we concentrated on the Massachusetts outstanding warrant issues. Now, we look at the issues surrounding the apparent homicide of her little boy.

She has been arraigned on second-degree murder charges in New Hampshire for killing her child, where it is believed the actual homicide took place before the body was dumped in Maine.

The Defendant had written a book which was published in 2008, entitled Goodnight, Sleep Tight! How to Fall Asleep and Go Back to Sleep When You Wake Up. The book features numerous tips for better sleep, including suggestions about diet, relaxation, and meditation.

“I am way more freaked out about all the little things in life, and was forced to devise a plan in which to save myself from all the self-imposed static I create in times of fear.” she wrote. When she is angry about something, she wrote, thoughts “go around and around like vicious sharks.”

In a passage about her son, the Defendant wrote that he had major ear problems for eight months, and had “tantrums like you cannot imagine.” She also explained that he did better after undergoing surgery, but “still rocks one wild tantrum after another when frustrated.”

“Three is a tough age sometimes,” she wrote, affectionately calling him “my little guy.”

In another section, the Defendant briefly recalled losing the “love of her life,” and other hard times. She wrote that, “I’m strong in my faith, but sometimes at night it is still very difficult to just halt my emotional turmoil in the midst of all of it,” she wrote.
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Not many cases are as tragic, from any perspective, as the drama being played out in Concord today. I am referring to Julianne McCrery, 42, who will soon need an experienced homicide attorney in New Hampshire. She was arrested in Chelmsford, is held as a fugitive and is hereinafter referred to as the “Defendant”.

On the periphery, there are the typical cast of characters. There are the various family members and friends who describe the Defendant as “troubled” and swear that she would never hurt her child. There are the casual observers who saw her at what is assumed to be the time of her son’s death who describe her as “not a nice person”, disheveled and quiet based on barely any interaction at all, yet apparently worth mentioning in news accounts.

And, in the heart of it is a dead child. The boy who was found dead days ago, left unidentified. The 6-year-old boy for whom authorities searched until they found a name…and a mother. A mother who has apparently confessed to killing him.

The chief medical examiner of Maine has determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation, although the final determination is pending further study.

The suspected cause of the asphyxiation? Too much cough syrup.

Indeed, a close friend describes that the boy had had a bad cough.
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The trial of Mark Kerrigan continues at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn today. As you no doubt recall, Mark Kerrigan is the brother of Nancy Kerrigan, renown Olympic skater. She has had her own previous dealings with the criminal justice system…as a complainant. This time, she is supporting the defendant, her brother, who is being prosecuted for the Massachusetts homicide of their father.

Of course, in this blog, as in the criminal justice system, Mark Kerrigan is known as the “Defendant”.

There does not seem to be too much debate around the surrounding circumstances of the elder Mr. Kerrigan’s death. He was in some kind of altercation with the Defendant when he collapsed and died. According to the defense, including the deceased’s family members, he died as a result of severe blockage of his coronary arteries.

The Commonwealth disagrees. The chief medical examiner has testified that the death was caused by heart failure triggered by the physical altercation with the Defendant. He has opined that Mr. Kerrigan’s fatal cardiac dysrhythmia — a loss or interruption of a normal heartbeat was not only caused by the altercation, but that he also suffered an acute fracture of cartilage in his larynx, an injury prosecutors say the Defendant inflicted Continue reading

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Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, began this week facing a judge in a New York courthouse. He is the head of the International Money Fund, a married father of four and has a reputation that has brought him the nickname of “the great seducer.”

He is also, hereinafter, known as the “Defendant”.

The Defendant was taken into custody on Saturday, where he stayed until Monday’s court appearance. During this time, he was identified in a lineup by a complainant.

The complainant is an, as yet, unnamed 32-year-old maid working in the hotel in which the Defendant was staying. She has reported that she entered his hotel room, thinking it was unoccupied. Instead, the Defendant emerged from the bathroom naked. He is said to have chased her down a hallway and pulled her into a bedroom, where he sexually assaulted her. According to the complainant, she tried to fight him off, but the Defendant dragged her into the bathroom, where he forced her to perform oral sex on him and tried to remove her underwear.

Finally, she was able to break away and alerted hotel staff and the authorities. By the time detectives arrived, the Defendant was gone, although he left his cellphone behind.

He was found some hours later and, plucked from first class on a Paris-bound Air France flight that was just about to leave the gate at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
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The mean streets of the Commonwealth were especially mean this past week and weekend.

A Bedford man was run down and killed during an alleged Burlington drunk driving crash. Further, a resident of a homeless shelter was apparently fatally stabbed near a hospital during a Boston murder. Finally, a man was shot at a Stoughton shooting.

Unfortunately, law enforcement was not on hand to prevent these Massachusetts violent crimes. After all, the police cannot be everywhere!.

However, they were on hand to keep the streets safe in Roxbury to prevent another horrible crime.

Boston police are now crowing about a courageous undercover officer who posed as a prostitute in order to nab five “johns” during a sting in Roxbury.

The intrepid female officer was stationed around Blue Hill Avenue to arouse…testosterone. As men came up to offer money for sex, they found themselves arrested for being part of the Boston sex trade, thus keeping the city streets much safer for us all.

Using the law enforcement’s sparse resources in this way makes sense to the powers that be. It somehow fits in perfectly within their frame of logic.
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