Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog

A Roxbury man was acquitted on Monday in the 1991 murders of his girlfriend and her friend. Reggie Knight was acquitted by a Suffolk Superior Court jury for the stabbing deaths of Michelle Paul, 24, and Henry Cowart, 50. The murders took place outside a housing development in Mission Hill where he is said to have bumped into them as they were getting back from purchasing cigarettes.

Knight had been indicted in 2003 for the stabbing crimes. Evidence against Knight was brought forward by his uncle and brother, who say that the defendant entered his brother’s house holding a knife while he had blood on his hands and declared “I did it” after the murders.

Knight supposedly became very angry when Paul refused to engage in prostitution to fund a crack cocaine habit. Paul and Cowart were found dead by stab wounds on the evening of December 15, 1991.

Knight’s defense attorney had maintained that Robert’s statements were not consistent with the statements made by Knight’s uncle, Jessie.

According to the defense, both men were trying to get leniency for the crimes that they had committed.

So far, the district attorney's office in Suffolk has had eight homicide cases result in acquittals. 25 cases resulted in convictions.

If you have been arrested for murder, it is important that you hire your own criminal defense attorney immediately. An experienced criminal defense lawyer can defend you in court and dispute any evidence against you.

In Massachusetts, the punishments for committing murder are very serious. Massachusetts defines homicide as the “willful killing of one human being by another.”

Penalties in Massachusetts for murder:

• First Degree Murder: Life imprisonment and without parole
• Second Degree Murder: Life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years served
• Involuntary Manslaughter, Voluntary Manslaughter, and Vehicular Homicide: Fines and up to 20 years in prison

Roxbury man acquitted in 2 killings, Boston.com, July 24, 2007

1991 murder case goes to trial, Boston Now, July 17, 2007

Homicide, Mass.gov

Related Web Resource:

Massachusetts Crime Rates

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Posted In: Felonies and Violent Crimes , Murder

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Drug informant Stephen G. Kalil, the Dorchester man whose help led to the arrests of a retired Massachusetts trooper, a state trooper, and two others for collecting drug debts and selling OxyContin, has been arrested.

He was brought into federal court last week on charges that he sold drugs—even while helping authorities put the other four people jail.

In July, Kalil informed investigators that he was going to Florida because he felt safer there after all the exposure he’d received as an informant during the arrests. When he returned to Massachusetts via Logan International Airport in Boston a week ago, however, he went straight to a Federal Express facility where he allegedly dropped off a package filled with drugs. The package was to be delivered to a location on Martha’s Vineyard.

The 49-year-old Dorchester man was also charged with illegal possession of firearms stemming from the seizure of three guns from his home in Dorchester in January.

Kalil has a criminal record for drug dealing, assaults, and larceny and is not allowed to own a gun because he is a convicted felon.

An attorney for Kalil says the fact that he was allowed to be an informant despite the discovery of the firearms earlier in the year shows how the government misuses its informants.

Kalil had been apprehended last November while trying to board a plane to Florida with a large amount of OxyContin pills and more than $20,000 in cash. He told Customs Enforcement agents, US immigration, and Massachusetts State Police that he was an informant against Mark V. Lemieux, the Massachusetts state trooper that he helped get arrested.

The investigation that followed led to Lemieux’s arrest.

If you have been arrested for allegedly committing a drug crime in Massachusetts, you should speak with an experienced criminal lawyer immediately. Your criminal defense attorney can protect your rights and knows how to get the charges reduced or dropped when possible.

In 2001, 687 people were arrested on federal drug charges in Massachusetts. 16,528 people were arrested on state charges.

Informer is held on drug charges, Boston.com, July 21, 2007

Heroin influx spurs N.E. drug epidemic, Boston.com, October 9, 2003

Related Web Resource:

Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts

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A new probe shows that the Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory failed to analyze evidence samples from more than 16,000 crimes that occurred in the state. Unexamined evidence included evidence from about 1,000 homicides and other deaths, as well as from over 6,500 sexual assault cases.

The lab has yet to open some 4,000 rape evidence kits. Evidence from about 2,900 criminal cases must still undergo DNA testing, and 10,000 evidence kits are being held in cold storage. The investigation into the lab’s lack of performance was requested by Massachusetts Governor Deval L. Patrick’s administration.

The Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientists blames the backlog on insufficient staffing at the lab. It also called on the need for more forensic scientists to handle the new crime lab equipment that had been purchased by the state. Massachusetts will now have to pay millions of dollars to private labs so they can eliminate the testing backlog.

The lab’s inability to process what could be important DNA evidence could lead to many convicted persons being set free after serving time in prison for rapes and murders they did not commit. Criminal cases from as far back as the 1980’s could be affected by the evidence backlog. The untouched evidence also could mean that many rapists and murderers may still be free.

The Innocence Project at Cardozo Law School in New York says that forensic testing errors were found in 63% of criminal cases where persons were exonerated. DNA testing backlogs, false confessions, eyewitness errors, and police informants were also reasons cited for exonerations.

The state says it will examine evidence in cases that can still be prosecuted. Cases where the statutes of limitations have already expired, however, will never be properly served.

Crime lab didn’t test 16,000 cases, Worcester Telegram & Gazette News, July 17, 2007

Crime lab crisis threatens us all, Boston Herald, July 17, 2007

Probe finds evidence from crime scenes never analyzed, Boston.com, July 15, 2007

Forensic Errors Often Contribute to Wrongful Convictions, Criminal Law Lawyer Source

Related Web Resources:

The Innocence Project

Wrongful Conviction, American Bar Association

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Posted In: Criminal Law , Felonies and Violent Crimes

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Yesterday, US marshals, Boston police, and Quincy police recaptured Thomas A. Shay, the fugitive bomber who served 10 years in prison for the 1991 Roslindale bombing that killed one Boston cop and injured another. Shay was discovered yesterday at his mother’s home in Quincy where he was taking a nap. He had been on the run for the past year.

Shay, 35, had been convicted of plotting to make a homemade bomb that was planted under his father’s car. On October 28, 1991, the bomb went off while Boston Police Bomb Squad members were examining the vehicle in a Roslindale driveway. Officer Jeremiah J. Hurley Jr. was killed in the explosion. Hurley’s partner, Officer Francis X. Foley, became permanently disabled and unable to work after losing an eye in the bomb blast.

In April, Alfred W. Trenkler, a friend of Shay’s that had also been convicted in the bomb-making plot, got his sentenced reduced from life in prison to 37 years. Trenkler has always maintained his innocence.

Shay had been released from prison in 2002 after serving 10 years of a 12-year sentence. Since then, however, he has been accused of regularly violating the terms of his federally supervised release. He was returned to prison in 2005 after leaving a halfway house and assaulting a Northeastern University officer.

In 2006, he was arrested in Spencer on state charges of selling narcotics to a teenager and stealing from another teenager. A fugitive warrant was issued in his name after he fled. Authorities say that Shay occasionally disguised himself as a female to avoid being recognized.

The US Marshal Service has looked for him in Maine, Chicago, New Hampshire, and in different areas throughout Massachusetts.

US Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler has ordered that Shay be held without bail. A hearing regarding whether he should be ordered back to prison has been set for July 24.

Fugitive bomber is caught napping, Boston.com, July 17, 2007

Fugitive in Boston cop killing case captured in Quincy, Boston.com, July 16, 2007

Cross-Dressing Cop Killer Caught, Boston Herald, July 16, 2007

Related Web Resource:

Alfred Trenkler Innocent Committee

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Prosecutors in Massachusetts have dropped the rape charge against Derrick Patrick, a former youth counselor. Patrick, 36, was accused of sexually assaulting a teenager at the Ella J. Baker House, a troubled youth center where he worked in Boston’s Dorchester area.

The rape charge was dropped after prosecutors carefully reviewed the facts and completed an “extensive consultation” with the alleged victim.

Patrick, as part of his plea deal, instead pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor counts of having sex for a fee. His sentence is 60 days in prison and two years probation. He served the 60 days while waiting for his trial.

The Suffolk District Attorney’s Office says that Patrick paid a 17-year-old girl four times for sexual intercourse. The teenager accused him of raping her at a Baker House bathroom after she wouldn’t have sex with him in January 2006. He denied the rape charge. A DNA test did not connect Patrick to the girl.

In Massachusetts, the law defines rape as “sexual intercourse or unnatural sexual intercourse,” and includes several classifications of rape:

• Statutory Rape of a Child (a person under 16 years of age)
• Forcible Rape of a Child
• Aggravated Rape of an Adult (a person over 16 years of age)
• Aggravated Rape of an Adult

Punishment for raping a child can lead to life imprison. Depending on the kind of rape act performed on an adult, a person convicted of rape could spend anywhere from 20 years to life in prison.

If you have been wrongfully charged with committing a rape crime, you must hire a criminal attorney immediately. There may be strong evidence that can prove you are not guilty. An experienced criminal defense lawyer can prove your innocence or try to negotiate a plea deal where the charges against you or your sentencing can be reduced.

False rape accusations are not uncommon. A 1996 U.S. Department of Justice study called “Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science: Case Studies in the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence After Trial” documents 28 rape cases where 27 individuals that had been convicted by juries were later exonerated because of DNA tests.

Rape Charge Dropped Against Former Counselor, Boston.com, June 30, 2007

False Rape Accusations May Be More Common Than Thought, Foxnews.com, May 2, 2006

Sexual Assault & Rape, Norfolk District Attorney's Office

Related Web Resource:

Massachusetts Law About Sex

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The man that Boston police have dubbed the Bonbon Bandit allegedly robbed another store on Thursday. In this attempt, the suspect, who is blamed for at least 18 robberies at upscale clothing, food, and decorating stores at the South End and in downtown Boston, robbed a five-and-dime store on Albany Street.

A witness says the man entered the shop at 5:30 in the afternoon, took a bottle of water from the cooler, and went to the counter where he then took cash from the register.

The Bonbon Bandit is known for striking at businesses where there are primarily women employees and no security cameras. Seven of the places robbed by the alleged suspect were ice cream shops. He is also a suspect in several other robberies, including thefts that took place at stationary shops, a candle store, gift shops, and a dry cleaner’s.

The suspect has allegedly used a handgun, a sawed-off shotgun, and a knife during some of the robberies.

Robbery is considered a violent crime in Massachusetts. It is what occurs when someone uses intimidation or violence to take someone else’s property. When the suspect uses a gun, knife, or another weapon to commit the robbery, then the crime becomes armed robbery.

Under Massachusetts General Laws—Crimes Against the Person—Chapter 265, Section 17:

“Whoever, being armed with a dangerous weapon, assaults another and robs, steals or takes from his person money or other property which may be the subject of larceny shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life or for any term of years; provided, however, that any person who commits any offence described herein while masked or disguised or while having his features artificially distorted shall, for the first offence be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than five years and for any subsequent offence for not less than ten years.

Whoever commits any offense described herein while armed with a firearm, shotgun, rifle, machine gun or assault weapon shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than five years.

Any person who commits a subsequent offense while armed with a firearm, shotgun, rifle, machine gun or assault weapon shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than 15 years.”

If you are a suspect in an armed robbery case, it is important that you hire an experienced criminal defense lawyer right away. Your criminal defense attorney can defend you against false charges, file motions to get certain evidence suppressed, or possibly get the charges dismissed.

Cops: Bonbon Bandit Quenched Thirst in Latest Theft, Boston Herald.com, July 7, 2007

Boston Police Hunt for Sweet Shop Bandit, Forbes.com, July 6, 2007

Massachusetts General Laws - Crimes Against the Person - Chapter 265, Section 17

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In New Bedford, Massachusetts, Brian James, 34, is being held without bail for allegedly biting off the ear and lip of a 3-year-old girl. The child is the daughter of his girlfriend, Jessica Silveria, 26, who is also being held without bail. Arrest warrants had been issued for the couple.

James is charged with assault and battery upon a child causing substantial bodily injuries. Under the General Laws of Massachusetts, Chapter 265, Crimes Against the Person. Section 13J “Assault and battery upon a child; penalties” offers the following definitions:

Bodily injury: “substantial impairment of the physical condition including any burn, fracture of any bone, subdural hematoma, injury to any internal organ, any injury which occurs as the result of repeated harm to any bodily function or organ including human skin or any physical condition which substantially imperils a child’s health or welfare.”

Child: any person younger than 14 years of age

Substantial bodily injury: “bodily injury which creates a permanent disfigurement, protracted loss or impairment of a function of a body member, limb or organ, or substantial risk of death.”

Punishment for conviction of this crime is up to five years in state prison or no more than 2.5 years in the house of correction.

James has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Silveria is charged with intimidation of a witness and permitting substantial injuries to a child under 14 years of age.

According to police, the face of Silveria’s little girl was so mutilated that doctors will not be able to completely repair the damage. Part of her upper lip is now gone, and her ear cannot be made whole again. She also had bite wounds on her face and on other areas of her body.

James and Silveria are scheduled to appear in court next week for a dangerousness hearing. A dangerousness hearing can be called by the Assistant District Attorney. This allows the Assistant D.A. to hold the defendant in pre-trial detention with no bail. In order to prove dangerousness, there has to be “clear and convincing” evidence that letting the defendant go could be dangerous for the victim or other members of the community.

Officials at Children’s Hospital in Boston think that the bite attacks started in January and went on until at least April. However, Lori James, James’ aunt, claims that her nephew did not bite the girl’s lip and that the 3-year-old had told her that her tooth went through her lip when she fell in the tub. Lori James says that James has never abused any children.

If you are arrested for assault and battery, you are entitled to qualified legal representation from a good defense lawyer. Your criminal defense attorney can protect your legal and civil rights, guide you through the process, investigate the charges against you, and defend you during a criminal trial.

Mass. Man Charged With Savagely Biting Little Girl, Keyetv.com, July 5, 2007

Police Arrest Man Accused Of Biting 3-Year-Old, Yahoo.com, July 4, 2007

Domestic Violence Brochure, Mass.gov

Crimes, Punishments, and Proceedings in Criminal Cases, The General Laws of Massachusetts

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This week, a Suffolk Superior Court judge will decide whether to set bail for Bernard Piscopo, 38, the man charged in the June 17 stabbing death of Adam Rich, 26, at The 6 House bar in Boston. Piscopo’s attorney is pushing for bail because the defendant has multiple sclerosis.

Rich died after someone stabbed him eight times all over his body, including his legs, stomach, chest, back, and hand. He was treated at Boston Medical Center. His friend, Thomas Browne, was treated at Massachusetts General Hospital. Browne received 40 stitches for his knife wounds. No one has been charged in Browne’s stabbing.

According to Piscopo’s defense attorney, his client is afflicted with multiple sclerosis and could not have possibly committed the crime. His lawyer says that the bar’s cameras and forensic evidence show that Piscopo was not involved in the fight.

Witnesses from that night say that there were two altercations between bar patrons before Piscopo, a Dorchester resident, allegedly pulled a knife from his pants. He is accused of stabbing Rich and another man.

Piscopo claims that the defendant does not drink because of the shots he is required to take to manage his multiple sclerosis. He has no criminal history and served in the U.S. army for nearly 10 years. Piscopo has a fiancé and two children.

The 6 House is under investigation because of its patrons’ behavior and also for complaints that it does not offer employees workers’ compensation.

The “Not Guilty” Plea
Under the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure, when a defendant is charged with a crime, he or she can only plead guilty, not guilty, or nolo contendere. The option to plead innocent does not exist. A jury in Massachusetts is only allowed to render a verdict of not guilty or guilty. A person who committed a crime may be found not guilty for many reasons, including inadmissible evidence and by reason of insanity.

If you or someone you love has been arrested for a crime, it is important that you speak with a criminal defense attorney right away. Your lawyer can protect you and your rights, investigate the charges against you, and help secure the best outcome possible for you.

Bail Decision Due Monday in Barroom Slay, Boston Herald.com, June 29, 2007

S. Boston Stabbing Suspect Pleads Not Guilty, Boston Globe, June 21, 2007

Not Guilty Does Not Mean Innocent, Massachusetts Bar Association

Related Web Resources:

Multiple Sclerosis Health Center

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Posted In: Assault and Battery , Felonies and Violent Crimes

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