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This week has not been a good one as far as the reputation of “higher learning” is concerned…and, for once, it had nothing to do with either drugs or bullying!

First of all, there is the case of Falmouth’s own Luk Van Parijs (hereinafter, “Penalized Prof.”, who has just pleaded guilty in Boston’s federal court to white collar crimes.

Penalized Prof. Is a 40-year-old former associate professor of biology from MIT. He was fired in 2005 for falsifying data in scientific papers. The papers concerned experimentation about generating a transgenic mouse in his lab. The charge was making a false statement in a federal research grant application, the US Attorney’s Office said. He is due to be sentenced in June. He faces the potential of five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.

In 2009, Penalized Prof.’s career began to unravel when the federal Office of Research Integrity found that he had engaged in scientific misconduct by submitting the false data in numerous grant applications. He was also found to have falsified data in numerous scientific publications and presentations and one book chapter.

MIT’s embarrassment was shared today by a local law school today as well. Well, at least a student is embarrassed. And that’s the least of his problems now.

John Ethan Cassidy, a 26-year-old University of Massachusetts School of Law student (hereinafter, “Legal Gunner”) was arraigned today on a variety of firearms charges for allegedly possessing an AK-47 assault rifle and a 9mm pistol, Dartmouth police said. He was arrested yesterday evening as he left the school.

Legal Gunner had moved to the area in August 2010, police said in a statement. He was originally from Spring, Texas. Unfortunately, he was apparently also wanted on a warrant from that state. Law enforcement says he will also face charges at a later date of assaulting his roommate. The guns were apparently uncovered, along with large-capacity magazines and several hundred rounds of ammunition in his apartment.
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We seem to be living in the time of the realistic hero. Last year, “Kick-Ass”, a movie about a young man who decided to become a superhero was very popular. More recently, “The Green Hornet” was revisited, now as a semi-comedy, with a more realistic feel as the Green Hornet and Kato are now average guys just trying to “help out”. And this week, we have Bosolakhana Thach of Lynn, hereinafter, “Rod Woman”.

Rod Woman was working at her convenience store on Monday afternoon, when the proverbial “bad guy”, a man wearing a hood, dark sunglasses and a knife came in. The man, hereinafter, “the Robber”) was a calm sort. He leaned over the counter and quietly warned Rod Woman to stay away from any alarms and to give him the money from the register.

What the Robber may not have known was that Rod Woman was, in reality, “Robbery Victim X Two Woman”. She was determined not to allow a third.

As is apparently recorded on the surveillance video (woops!), the Robber, after making his demands, turned his head away from Rod Woman. It was then that Rod woman grabbed a 4-foot, 15-pound iron rod from behind the counter and brought it crashing down on his wrist.

The knife was knocked from the Robber’s hand.
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This week is a big one for Danvers’s own Nathaniel Hudon, the 31 year-old- man who is now referred to as “the Defendant”. He began the week in custody and remains there awaiting a “Dangerousness Hearing” scheduled for tomorrow. Reports have it that he was under the influence of cocaine and alcohol and may have believed he was going to heaven to meet God, when he abducted his ex-girlfriend early Saturday. He is then said to have led police on a 20-mile chase on the Massachusetts Turnpike.

It is unknown as to whether the chase was due to his rush for the Devine appointment.

In any event, the Defendant has been held without bail and is facing several charges, including kidnapping and assault and battery.

The alleged victim in these charges is Pamela Bello, 42, also of Danvers. She is said to be the Defendant’s ex-girlfriend, and so is hereafter referred to as “the Ex”.

The Ex told police that the Defendant had been drinking and using cocaine for two days, when he called her outside of her residence around 4:45a.m. When the Defendant asked her to accompany him in his truck she says she refused, but he forced her into the vehicle anyway, where all the inside door handles were broken off. He then took off, with her in the vehicle and drugs and alcohol allegedly dancing through his system.

The Ex says she tried to call 911, but the Defendant threw her phone out of the window and continued driving. He is said to have then replaced the cell phone with a white metal crucifix in her hand, telling her to hold onto it.
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Last week, we discussed the story of a Dorchester woman who had allegedly been involved in a matter of deadly domestic violence. According to the Commonwealth, the result was murder and 28-year-old Dorchester woman Cherry Clinton (hereinafter, the “Defendant” was charged with stabbing her former boyfriend to death with a knife.

Usually, such cases do not have many witnesses. They happen at home. In private.

It turns out that such was not completely the case this time. In fact, one witness did all he could not to be a witness.

“My daughter came into the room and said, ‘Daddy, they’re fighting again,’ so I turned on the music to drown out the noise,” Robert Ennis said of the “banging” he heard coming from[the Defendant’s] apartment at the housing development. “I didn’t want to hear it.”

At about 10 a.m. Friday, another neighbor, Guerlande Merisier, also said she heard arguing and “banging, like falling on the floor.” Minutes later, she said, she saw the Defendant outside, crying, telling first responders, “Come in right away, my baby’s unconscious.”

Ennis said he never called police because after he testified a few years ago against a man accused of gunning down a youngster outside his building, a brick was thrown through his window.

“The streets aren’t forgiving,” the 50-year-old father of three said. “When you weigh it all out, I got to take care of my family.”

The killing marks at least the fifth domestic violence homicide this year, said Toni Troop, a spokeswoman for the victim’s advocacy program Jane Doe, Inc.

Might I note that we are just finishing month number two?
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Recently, I was discussing a case with a client who was charged with possessing drugs with the intent to distribute in a school zone. It became clear that he had suddenly come into contact with the need to express a certain confusion.

It happened just after I explained to him, once again, that the School Zone count carried a mandatory minimum sentence of two years.

“Yeah, but they can’t send me to jail, even if convicted”, opined “Client X” (just think of him as a police officer who shot someone. They’re names are never revealed).

I asked him for the reasoning behind this legal opinion and he explained that he had a clean record and so, somehow, the mandatory minimum did not apply to him. I then reminded him that his record was far from clean. True, he had no prior convictions, but he had two pages of previous cases which had ended short of convictions, such as dismissals and a Continuance Without A Finding. Most of these cases, by the way had been drug cases.

“Ok”, he explained , moving happily along to Theory “B”, “but none of those cases involved this particular drug that they are charging me with now.”

The conversation became less happy when I explained that this did not really matter. In the vernacular, “drugs is drugs”. Particularly when the allegation is that you are selling them.

It is because of such misconceptions by those not trained in the law that I address today’s story.
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We celebrate Valentine’s Day in February here in the Commonwealth. So, surely that cannot explain what allegedly passed for wisdom on the part of 49-year-old Gloucester fisherman, John Cusick, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) in his behavior this summer when dealing with a certain federal fishing monitor.

According to United States Attorney Carmen Ortiz, the Major Crimes Unit in Boston is prosecuting the Defendant on charges of assault and sexual harassment for allegedly hugging and putting his tongue in the ear of an unidentified monitor aboard the Sea Farmer II in July.

The indictment was apparently just handed down. It alleges that the Defendant harassed and assaulted the federal monitor who collects data from commercial fishing vessels while the vessel is engaged in fishing activities,

Fishing monitors are apparently placed on commercial boats by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to be sure that fishermen do not exceed their federally mandated quotas, which have been the subject of protest for years.

The allegations against the Defendant have sparked some controversy. Tina Jackson, president of the American Alliance of Fishermen and their Communities, claims that “NOAA is pulling out all the stops to discredit fishermen because they’re in a lot of trouble…NOAA is under a microscope right now for their actions on enforcement and policy.” She further claims that the fishermen will be lobbying Congress next week to urge them to investigate NOAA.

In a separate case, another gentleman has been indicted for two counts of assault of two monitors..

We have discussed many ways that “justice” is perverted in today’s criminal justice system. Over my man years of experience as a lawyer practicing criminal law, I have seen various cases that the perversion has a political bent. I saw it as a prosecutor in New York and I have seen it as a defense attorney here in Boston. It is perhaps the worst bastardization that the system can suffer.
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In Massachusetts, anything can be considered a dangerous weapon if it is used to commit assault and battery or homicide. We have discussed this many times. There are things, however, that should be clear to anyone to be a potential weapon. This would include an automobile and a gun. In the north-central part of the state, the town of Asby, these two weapons came confronted each other.

The gun won.

The gun was fired by a plainclothes State Police trooper( whose name has not been released and hereinafter, “Mystery Trooper”). Mystery Trooper shot and killed a man who was allegedly driving a motor vehicle in his direction…placing Mystery Trooper in fear, according to the authorities.

Mystery Trooper had been conducting a drug surveillance in the area, when he noticed activity he deemed “suspicious” from a silver Nissan Maxima inside of which was a lone lone male occupant.

Mystery Trooper tried to pull the car over, but the driver tried to drive away. Mystery Trooper followed until they reached a cul-de-sac. Mystery Trooper got out of his plainclothes vehicle and decided to stand in front of the vehicle, ordering the driver to get out of the car.
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While the investigation is still pending, police have already decided that a Springfield man lost his life to his live-in companion.

The police responded to the home of 45-year-old Joel Echols shortly before midnight on Friday. They found Mr. Echols suffering from various stab wounds.

Police responded to the Vinton Street home of 45-year-old Joel Echols shortly before midnight on Friday to find Echols suffering from multiple stab wounds in his chest. He was rushed to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, where he was pronounced dead.

Police believe that there had been a domestic disturbance involving the Mr. Echols and his girlfriend/wife (this has not been established yet apparently). It is further believed that she won the argument by the deadly assault to his upper chest.

The companion, Beverly Caldwell, 41, has been arrested and charged with murder.
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Happy President’s Day! I see that the Commonwealth has been celebrating the long weekend by making all presidents, both past and present, grateful that they no longer need to ride public transportation.

Let’s first turn to Lynn first. There, an MBTA bus driver has been suspended after allegedly having a bit of an issue with a passing vehicle. According to an MBTA spokesman, the driver is said to have thrown a coffee into the passing vehicle.

Apparently, the incident took place when the bus was pulling out of a bus stop. It was then allegedly cut off by a pick-up truck. Being mature Massachusetts drivers, the two exchanged heated words. Then, showing a real outbreak of responsibility, the bus driver is reported to thrown a cup of coffee into the truck, striking a passenger.

The truck driver reported the incident to police, and the bus driver was pulled over in Peabody.

The bus driver has been suspended and is now awaiting a court summons.

As unfortunate as the truck driver was, at least he is still alive. You see, another gentleman was actually struck and killed by a red line train in Cambridge this weekend.
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I guess it is a good thing that I am vacationing in New York as I write this; the Boston Police Department just broken my heart!

Imagine my excitement after all the blogs I have written about police misconduct…particularly the off-an-on relationship law enforcement seems to have on the stand when it comes time to testify. I found an article on the Boston Herald announcing, “BPD eyeing possible ‘misconduct’ of 4 officers”

My hopes even grew as I learned that said misconduct involved what they did in court!

“Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy“, I thought. “Finally, this is going to be addressed. Hurray for law and order and no-nonsense prosecutors”, I thought.

But then I read on.

“Testilying”, as it was called in Brooklyn, was not what everybody was worried about.

You see, it is true that a Boston police detective sergeant is on paid leave and three other officers are on administrative duty while internal affairs and prosecutors investigate the possible misconduct, according to a police statement. However, the “misconduct” has nothing to do with robbing citizens of their liberty through blatantly breaking the law against perjury.

Instead, the transgression has to do with making too much overtime.

Kind of a white collar sort of thing. Kinda sorta.

You know, the kind of thing that would be called “fraud” if you or I did it.
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