Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog

In Massachusetts, two Wrentham selectmen have filed criminal charges against one another for assault. John Zizza and Robert Cohen got into a bathroom argument at a June 3 board meeting. According to Zizza, Cohen suddenly approached him and started uttering swear words, telling Zizza not to touch him and telling him he would be sorry. Zizza says he feared for his safety. Cohen, however, says it was Zizza that acted in an intimidating and hostile fashion and purposely tried to provoke him.

The argument began after Zizza told Cohen that he had checked nominating papers—Cohen’s included—for forged signatures. Both men dispute the other’s account of the confrontation, although they aren't accusing each other of inflicting physical harm.
The selectmen are scheduled to make an appearance in Wrentham District Court to find out if there is enough evidence to charge either one of them.

Massachusetts law considers verbal abuse to be a crime if someone uses words to threaten another person in a manner that causes the recipient of the threat to fear physical harm. An assault charge may even be filed if someone threatens another person with bodily harm and that person fears for his or her safety.

Under the General Laws of Massachusetts:

Chapter 275: Section 2. Complaint of threat to commit crime
Section 2. If complaint is made to any such court or justice that a person has threatened to commit a crime against the person or property of another, such court or justice shall examine the complainant and any witnesses who may be produced, on oath, reduce the complaint to writing and cause it to be subscribed by the complainant.

Wrentham selectmen file assault charges against each other, Boston.com, June 24, 2008

Related Web Resource:

Massachusetts General Laws

Wrentham selectmen's feud hits public, Web, The Sun Chronicle, June 25, 2008

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The Suffolk District Attorney’s Office has dropped the child porn possession charge that was filed against Michael Fiola, a former Department of Industrial Accidents investigator in Massachusetts. Fiola was fired from his job after child pornography was discovered on his state-issued laptop. The computer was a replacement laptop, issued in November 2006, after the one he had been using was stolen.

Several months later, IT officials at the DIA noticed that his data usage was four times higher than that of his colleagues. He was fired on March 14, 2007. Fiola had spent several years as a DIA employee investigating workers’ compensation fraud.

Massachusetts state police convinced the Boston Municipal Court to charge him with possession of child pornography in August 2007. After conducting a lengthy investigation, however, Tami Loehrs, a nationally renowned computer forensic analyst retained by Fiola’s defense team, discovered that the former investigator was the victim of spam.

Loehrs's 30-page report discusses how Fiola’s laptop had been running corrupt virus protection software and that crackers and spammers had barraged the computer’s memory with images of pre-teen porn and incest. The images could not be seen by the naked eye.

Loehrs says she is 100% convinced that viruses and trojans had compromised the laptop, which may have been hacked, and that her findings show no “user interaction preceding the porn activity,” some of which had been rapidly downloaded.

Fiola’s wife, Robin says her husband has always been computer illiterate, and that he plans to sue the DIA for “destroying our lives.” Fiola says that their friends abandoned them and he wants to get his reputation back.

Child pornography possession is considered a serious criminal and social offense in Massachusetts. A criminal charge of child porn possession can lead to the ruin of your reputation, the loss of your job, and the loss of relationships.

Probe shows kiddie porn rap was bog, Bostonherald.com, June 16, 2008

Victim of malicious software tells how it cost him his job, his friends, his livelihood and his peace of mind, Computerworld.com, June 18, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Department of Industrial Accidents

Tami Loehrs

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R & B Performer R Kelly has been found not guilty of all 14 child pornography charges. The verdict ends a six-year saga for the singer, who was accused of having sex with a minor and recording the incident on video. He could have faced 15 years in prison if he had been convicted of all the charges and would have had to register as a sex offender in Illinois.

The video had been mailed to the Chicago Sun-Times in 2002. Kelly was initially indicted on 21 counts of child pornography. Prosecutors claimed that Kelly was the man seen engaging in the graphic sex acts with an allegedly 13-year-old girl. The video was recorded sometime between November 1997 and February 1998. Copies of the tape were sold on streets across the United States.

Kelly, and the girl, who is now 23-years-old, have always denied that they are the people seen having sex in the 27-minute video. A defense expert has even suggested that Kelly’s likeness had been inserted in the video.

Some 22 witnesses testified during the criminal trial. Several of the witnesses, four of them relatives of the alleged victim, identified the now 23-year-old woman as the girl in the video. Three other relatives of the alleged victim, however, testified for the defense and said they did not recognize the girl in the video. Kelly and the woman did not testify during the trial.

One key witness, Lisa Van Allen, said she had engaged in threesomes with Kelly, who had videotaped the encounters, and that one of the incidents involved the alleged victim. Under cross-examination, however, she admitted to stealing a $20,000 diamond studded watch from Kelly. The defense said that Van Allen just wanted to extort money from Kelly.

R. Kelly found not guilty, Boston Herald, June 14, 2008

R. Kelly arrested in child porn case, CNN.com, June 5, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Child Pornography, USdoj.gov

What is Child Pornography, Missingkids.com

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Court officials in Boston say that they are waiting for the results of a Wentworth Institute of Technology investigation to determine whether to file criminal charges against two of its students, who are accused of videotaping two women having a sexual encounter in a nearby Massachusetts College of Art and Design dorm.

The video was posted on a Wentworth network site and was viewed by many people, including students from other schools. Court clerks will usually wait to file a criminal complaint against college students with no prior criminal record when they are being investigated for misdemeanor crimes, such as underage drinking, at universities.

Emily Niland and Rosanne Strott, the women in the video say they felt violated when they found out several months later that the video existed. Strott, who has seen the video, says that the voices of men can be overheard on the video chanting antigay statements and talking about her body.

Wentworth students David Siemiesz and David Cunha allegedly recorded the videotape. Siemiesz says that he and Cunha did not intend for the video to go online and they didn’t realize the severity of their actions. About 10 men had watched the two women from a Wentworth dorm room. Siemiesz says he told someone to get a camera even though he felt anxious about his actions. He says he doesn’t know who posted the tape on the site.

Boston police say the two men could face a misdemeanor charge of videotaping a nude or partially nude person without consent. If convicted, Siemiesz and Cunha could spend up to 2 ½ years in a county correction house. Cunha and Siemiesz were not charged with distributing the tape because the site they posted the video on is a file sharing network that only Wentworth students can access.

Peeping Tom video lands two students in district court, Boston.com, June 12, 2008

Women taped secretly in dorm room, UPI.com, June 13, 2008

Related Web Resource:

Surviving a Misdemeanor Charge (in College), Arizona.edu

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In Massachusetts, Northampton Fire Chief Edgar Lesko and his wife Deborah have pled not guilty to four counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor. The couple is accused of letting several underage teenagers drink alcohol in their home last summer. One of the teens, David Homan, 19, died when the car he was driving it a tree.

The couple is being charged under Massachusetts’s “social host” law. The Leskos’ son, Andrew is charged with one count of alcohol possession as a minor and four counts of procuring alcohol for a minor.

Enacted in 2000, Massachusetts's Social Host Responsibility Law holds anyone who manages or owns a property in the state responsible when a minor drinks on the premise (even if the owner or manager did not supply the alcohol). The misdemeanor crime comes with a one-year maximum jail sentence and a $2,000 fine.

The Social Host law is part of a wider statute covering related offenses, such as adults purchasing alcohol for youths and establishments selling minors to alcohol.

Between 2000 and through 2005, the Essex district attorney’s office says that it prosecuted over 20 cases under the Social Host law. Middlesex County says that between 2002 and through 2005 at least 277 charges were filed under the overall statute. In 2005, Suffolk County filed charges against 88 people.

If you have been charged with serving alcohol to minors or allowing them to drink alcohol in your home or establishment, you should contact our Boston, Massachusetts criminal defense law firm immediately.

There may be reasons you could not have possibly known or prevented the minor from drinking alcohol on the premise—or the drinking incident may have occurred before or after the minor was in your home.

Fire captain, wife charged under `social host' law, Boston.com, June 5, 2008

Social host law hard to enforce, DAs say, Boston.com, January 8, 2006

Related Web Resources:

The General Laws of Massachusetts

Don't Give Kids Alcohol

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In federal court in Massachusetts, Daniel Ekasala pled not guilty to three counts of possession of oxycodone with intent to distribute. Authorities apprehended the 35-year-old Saugus resident during a sting operation involving New England Patriots offensive lineman Nicholas Kaczur.

Kaczur, who was arrested and charged with illegal possession of prescription painkillers in April wore a recording device during three alleged drug transactions that took place in gas stations in Foxborough, North Attleborough, and at a Sharon parking lot. During each of the three deals, the “cooperating witness,” as he was described in a Drug Enforcement Agency affidavit, purchased 100 OxyContin tablets for $3,900.

Ekasala ‘s defense attorney says that that the prosecution will have to reveal what the 28-year-old football player is getting in return for his cooperation. Kaczur was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree after police in New York pulled him over for speeding.

Ekasala is free on $10,000 bond. His attorney says that Ekasala tried to discourage the football player from buying drugs and was an “extremely reluctant participant.”

Massachusetts is one of a number of US states that have launched aggressive efforts to stop the illegal use and sale of OxyContin in the state. OxyContin is the brand name for OxyCodone. The painkiller is often abused for its euphoric effects.

Saugus man charged with supplying drugs to Patriots player, Boston.com, June 4, 2008

Patriots lineman Kaczur cooperates with DEA following arrest, ESPN.com, June 4, 2008

Related Web Resource:

Oxycodone

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