Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog

It wasn't too long ago that movie star and director Mel Gibson was a box office king who was well-respected for his directing and beloved by fans. Now, however, his reputation has taken another beating following the release of several audio recordings of a man that sounds like Gibson allegedly yelling out expletives and abusive statements, making unreasonable demands, and threatening to harm his now ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, who is the mother of his youngest child. RadarOnline.com has made the audio recordings available to the public.

Los Angeles authorities are investigating allegations made by Grigorieva, who is accusing the actor of having struck her on the face on more than one occasion. She claims that the alleged assaults caused her to break a tooth, lose a veneer, and suffer a concussion. If charged and convicted for domestic violence-related assault, Gibson is facing time behind bars.

Already, there has been fallout from the recordings for the celebrity. His agent, William Morris-Endeavor, has dropped him, which may not bode well for his film career, and his reputation, which already took a pretty hard beating when he was arrested for DUI and made sexist and anti-Semitic remarks in 2006, has been significantly damaged.

Gibson has not publicly commented on the audio recordings. The media, however, is reporting that is is accusing Grigorieva of threatening to leak the recordings to the media unless he gave her money. He has met with the authorities about his claims. Grigorieva denies there is any extortion plot.

Boston Domestic Violence
Custody, divorce, and legal separations can be acrimonious, and sometime, the allegations between both parties can escalate. If you are under investigation for domestic violence, child endangerment, extortion, or any other Boston criminal charges related to the dissolution of your relationship, it is important that you are represented not only by a family law attorney but also by a Boston domestic violence law firm that knows how to protect your legal rights and defend you against the charges.

Investigators interview Mel Gibson to discuss extortion allegations against ex Oksana Grigorieva, New York Daily News, July 27, 2010

William Morris Endeavor dumps Mel Gibson, Los Angeles Times, July 9, 2010

Gibson charged with drunken driving, CNN, August 3, 2006

Related Web Resources:
Mel Gibson News, The New York Times

Massachusetts Law About Domestic Violence

Continue reading "Accused by His Ex- of Domestic Violence and Child Endangerment, Mel Gibson Claims He is the Victim of Extortion " »

Well, we began this week on the Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog discussing crimes that occur in the summer. Yesterday, I was reminded of a companion crime to drunk driving and too much partying.

Two Palmer residents now face criminal charges that they supplied alcohol to a 17-year-old boy who later died in a dirt bike accident.

For those of you who are not sure, the drinking age is currently 21.

Police say 45-year-old Robin K. and 28-year-old Kenneth D. (hereinafter collectively, the “Defendants”) will be summoned to appear in court on charges of procuring alcohol for a minor.

Detective Sgt. Scott Haley told the Republican newspaper of Springfield that
the teenager, Erik N. (hereinafter, the “Deceased”), drank alcohol during a bonfire in April at the apartment complex where the Defendants live.

Continue reading "MA Couple Are Charged With Giving Alcohol To Juvenile After Deadly Traffic Accident" »

As a Boston-area criminal defense attorney, I often find myself, when meeting a prospective client, wanting to ask, “Why in the world didn’t you contact me earlier?” I usually don’t, of course. What is done is done and there are usually enough other urgent issues on the table to discuss.

Things like future liberty.

Let me save you the time of reading the remainder of this blog; the short answer to the title is “No”.

“Well, Sam”, you respond, “Can’t getting a lawyer involved in such a delicate time reflect badly on me or complicate matters?”

Maybe. If you have hired someone who does not have the experience to deal with the situation. But, then, that would be like not calling a doctor when you have a heart attack because there is the risk of medical malpractice out there.

Continue reading "I Am Being Investigated For A Crime In Boston – Too Soon To Call A Defense Lawyer?" »

Crime, itsel, is not particularly seasonal. It happens all the time in the Boston area. However, through my years as a Boston criminal defense attorney, I have noted that certain crimes seem to occur more often during certain seasons. Summer is a season where there is often a spike in certain crimes, for example.

The Rock star "Meatloaf" once began a hit song with the line, "On a hot summer night, would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?" After various lines seemingly meant to understand the original question, the answer was "Yes".

The image of hot summer nights is often used to portray passonate and, often, violent, occurences.

This is not limited to music or fiction.

We often see what might otherwise be verbal arguments escalate into physical altercations. Maybe it is the heat that makes tempers more flammable. For example, on Saturday, I wrote about a woman who was shot by police after she allegedly assaulted them with a knife. This was, of course, after she had assaulted someone else at home with the knife. This ended tragically…the police shot and killed her.

This is also a story which may bear a closer look this week, by the way.

Continue reading "Summer crimes – Disorderly conduct, assault and battery, drunk driving…. a criminal attorney’s view." »

This blog has discussed many stories about family disputes which get out of hand. Some have resulted in assaults which cause great injury. Others have been known to result in death…whether intentional or accidental.

This one, though, seems to have taken domestic violence to an unusual level.

Authorities say that they went to investigate a 911 call from a gentleman who claimed that his girlfriend had lunged at him with a knife and had tried to set his clothes on fire.

The officers arrived at the Somerville home at about 6:30pm yesterday. This was apparently not the first such response; police indicate that they had responded to the same home at about 3 a.m. after a neighbor reported shouting

When they arrived, 33-year-old Carol K. attacked them with a knife.

Continue reading "A Boston Defense Attorney Reviews A Deadly Case Of Domestic Violence" »

Jaime Collazo and Christopher Colecchi have been arrested and arraigned in a Massachusetts criminal case involving a stolen car that had two sleeping children in it. The alleged car theft and kidnapping are said to have occurred early on the morning of July 12. The two Worcester men are accused of stealing a 2002 Toyota Sienna from outside a Gulf gas station while its driver was in the station.

Police were contacted and within minutes an officer found the car parked at the corner of Lafayette and Scott. The children were still in the vehicle and hadn’t been harmed.

Following a foot chase, Collazo was arrested and charged with Massachusetts kidnapping and trespassing. He is accused of forcing his way into the building where police found him.

Meantime, Colecchi, who is accused of then stealing another car, was pursued by cops on the I-290 first in cars and then on foot after he crashed the vehicle. Colecchi is charged with two counts of kidnapping, operating a vehicle as to endanger, receiving a stolen motor vehicle, leaving the scene of property damage, operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license, and possession of Class B substance. His criminal defense lawyer told the Telegram that the 36-year-old man is being overcharged. He says that whoever took the first car got out at once upon discovering that there were children inside the vehicle.

Van Stolen With Sleeping Children Inside, WCVB, July 13, 2010

Two suspects arrested for kidnapping, Telegram.com, July 12, 2010

Related Web Resource:
Crimes against the Person, General Laws of Massachusetts

Continue reading "Two Worcester Men Accused of Stealing Car Charged with Massachusetts Kidnapping" »

Gee, it seems like only yesterday that this Boston criminal defense attorney was going against the grain and calling the indictment of six kids from South Hadley a senseless exercise of political grandstanding…or words to that effect. Don’t believe that I saw what everybody else was heralding as “heroic” as folly? Check out my postings since January as well as my comments on the equally “heroic” legislation on both the blog and Fox25!

Now, a couple of developments have some people reconsidering the events.

When 15-year-old Phoebe Prince committed suicide in January, six fellow South Hadley students were blamed for relentlessly bullying her. It was an easy fix for SuperDA Elizabeth Scheibel – indict them all and ruin their lives.

Whoops!

A new report shows there may have been factors other than bullying that led to the death of the South Hadley student.

Court documents, recently obtained by Emily Bazelon of the online magazine Slate, contain police interviews with Phoebe's mother, classmates, teachers and administrators that tell a different story; one that suggests the teen's troubles extended beyond the halls of South Hadley High.

Continue reading "Massachusetts Bullying Indictments And Legislation Controversy Are Revisited In New Reports" »

Sex cases are a funny thing. That is, “funny” as in “strange”. In a country wherein we say that we prize the presumption of innocence, we really don’t act like we like said presumption very much.

Currently, I am handling a high profile case about child pornography. Already, the press is interested. This, of course, is natural and is the job of the media. However, I am troubled not by the fact that it is newsworthy, but the reaction of people. Any passer-by who is questioned about the matter seems to have already formulated the verdict of “guilty”. People are shocked that “this has happened”, except that a man's good deeds have been completely disregarded because of the new accusations. Other than that, nothing else has been proven to have “happened”.

What is even more troubling is the aftermath.

I can still locate articles from 2008 when another client of mine was arrested and charged with rape involving a child. People were interested then. Well, for the last two years, we fought against the “assumption of guilt” while trying to remind everybody else that a “presumption of innocence” was rumored to still exist. Finally, two years later, my client was completely exonerated…as in “Not Guilty”. Out of curiosity last night, I cruised the internet to find mention of the fact that my client, who attempts to resurrect his life now that he has been acquitted, has been found not guilty.

Big surprise – nary a whisper.

Continue reading "Another Clergy Sex Crimes Case Inspires Reflections On Years Of Boston Criminal Defense" »

Yesterday, as you may have read through various print and other media outlets, I had occasion to drive to North Adams, Massachusetts on a new case. As I traveled the various hours, I was reminded again and again through the radio how I was actually taking my life in my hands. This has not been a great summer so far for driving safely. The only thing that seemed to make the odds in my favor for arriving in court and then at my office in Cambridge was the fact that I was not a member of any police force.

There have been a number of incidents where officers have been struck by civilian drivers over the past month. The latest example to grace the headlines was Mathew C., 24, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”). On Saturday morning, he allegedly rear-ended a state police cruiser in a highway breakdown lane. He is said to have had a blood-alcohol level over twice the legal limit. Police also claim that he admitted at the scene to having had “too much” to drink.

I guess that would seemgly slam the lid shut for a prosecution for, among other things, drunk driving.

This was the fifth such crash in recent weeks. This time, the police say, the driver didn't brake at all before slamming his car into the cruiser.

Continue reading "A Boston Criminal Lawyer Wonders How Latest Drunk Driving Accident Will Effect Law" »

The Supreme Judicial Court has overturned Joann Sliech-Brodeur’s Massachusetts first-degree murder conviction. Sliech-Brodeur was convicted of killing her husband Joseph Brodeur, who was stabbed 34 times with a kitchen knife and may have sustained blunt force head trauma from a “pry bar” on July 28, 2004.

During Sliech-Brodeur’s criminal defense trial, the defense claimed that Sliech-Brodeur’s long-standing mental issues were made worse by Brodeur’s intentions to divorce her. A psychologist who testified on her behalf said that Sliech-Brodeur doesn’t remember stabbing her husband.

In February 2006, a jury rejected Sliech-Brodeur’s defense that she was not responsible for stabbing her husband because she was mentally ill. The then 61-year-old woman was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Now, however, the state’s highest court is saying that the discovery process that took place during the trial violated criminal procedure rules (including the state’s limitations on discovery in insanity cases) and prejudiced the West Springfield woman’s Massachusetts murder case. The court says that the psychiatric expert for the prosecution was given information he should not have obtained and that the defense should not have had to give prosecutors statements and notes she had made for her own psychiatric expert.

Finding that Sliech-Brodeur was “unconstitutionally forced to help the state convict her,” the court is ordering a new trial.

SJC overturns murder conviction for West Springfield woman, Boston.com, July 19, 2010

Mass. court orders new trial in husband’s death, Boston Herald, July 19, 2010

Woman guilty of first-degree murder in husband's death, Mass Live, February 24, 2006

Related Web Resources:
Murder, Cornell University Law School

General Laws of Massachusetts

Continue reading "Supreme Judicial Court Overturns Massachusetts Murder Conviction of West Springfield Widow " »

The criminal trial of Vernon Thompson on two counts of Massachusetts rape is now under way. Thompson, 40 is accused of sexually assaulting a Newton teenager while he was a psychiatric patient at Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Jamaica Plain in 2008.

He is accused of taking the girl, then 14, to an area of the hospital where there were no security cameras and sexually assaulting her. His Boston criminal defense lawyer is asking jurors to remember that the defendant was a mental health patient when the allegedMassachusetts sexual crime happened. She also noted that because of his diminished mental capacity, he was incapable of understanding his actions or conforming to the law.

Diminished Mental Capacity Defense
Due to mental illness, a psychological disorder, or other health issues, some people who’ve committed a crimes lack the capacity to understand that their actions constituted a criminal act. Evidence of diminished capacity can be presented to a jury as part of the defense as they consider whether to find a defendant guilty or not guilty of a crime.

Massachusetts is zealous when it comes to pursuing people charged with sexual crimes and it is important that you are represented by a Boston criminal defense lawyer that can secure the best outcome possible for your case. A conviction as a sex offender can land you in prison for years, place you on the Massachusetts sex offender registry for life, and likely have serious repercussions on your career and personal life.

Girl, 16, testifies at rape case, Boston.com, July 14, 2010

Hospital Rape Case To Begin, WCVB, July 6, 2010

Continue reading "Psychiatric Patient on Trial for Boston Rape Has Diminished Mental Capacity, Says His Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer" »

Ayanna Woodhouse is charged with Boston aggravated assault and battery and manslaughter in the death of a six-month-old fetus. The 25-year-old woman was indicted on Friday by a Suffolk County Grand Jury. They rendered their decision after hearing testimony from medical experts who said that under normal circumstances the baby could have lived outside the womb. At her arraignment on Monday, she pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges.

According to authorities, the Wellesley woman punched and kicked a pregnant woman during a brawl in April at Tulip Nail, a Boston nail salon. Following the incident, the fetus was delivered by emergency C-section but died. According to the medical examiner, the placenta became detached from the uterus. Woodhouse is related to the baby’s father.

Woodhouse’s Boston criminal defense lawyer says that it is unclear who began the fight. Per a Boston police report, after the two women left the salon the pregnant woman followed Woodhouse in her car and they reportedly continued their dispute. According to the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office, there was not enough evidence to establish that any intent to kill was involved. Massachusetts is one of the US states that will pursue homicides of unborn children who could have otherwise survive outside the womb.

A conviction for Massachusetts manslaughter can land a defendant in prison for up to 20 years. This is a serious criminal charge and in many cases the accused never intended to harm the victim.

Wellesley woman pleads not guilty to harming fetus, Boston.com, July 12, 2010

Woman indicted in death of fetus, Boston Herald, July 12, 2010

Related Web Resource:
Fetal Homicide State Laws, National Conference of State Legislature

Continue reading "Wellesley Woman Pleads Not Guilty to Boston Manslaughter and Aggravated Assault and Battery Charges in Fetus Death" »

Usually, the “Attorney Sam’s Take” postings take place on Fridays. However, this past week, I was finishing a jury trial and so could not post in a timely manner. I did not feel I could not simply shelve this subject, though, because we may have solved a problem plaguing the criminal justice system…in Boston and beyond.

As you have probably, heard, the ten alleged Russian agents recently rounded up in the Boston area and other parts of the Northeast, have pleaded guilty at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Most of the defendants admitted that they are Russian citizens and are agents working for the Russian Federation.

The sentence?

Well, a swap has been arranged. The Russian Federation will receive the spies in their custody and in turn will release four individuals claimed to be connected to American intelligence agencies, according to the United States Department of Justice.

In a Department of Justice press release, Attorney General Eric Holder said, “This was an extraordinary case, developed through years of work by investigators, intelligence lawyers, and prosecutors, and the agreement we reached today provides a successful resolution for the United States and its interests.”

Everybody is excited about this solution.

Continue reading "A Boston Criminal Defense Attorney Asks: Could Swapping Criminal Defendants Be The Solution?" »

Can a baseball bat be considered a dangerous weapon in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts? As a Boston attorney for longer than I am in the mood to admit, I have seen cases where a pen, a box and even a shoe is considered a dangerous weapon by the law. So, it should be no surprise that a baseball bat, ball or even a glove can be considered dangerous weapons.

It is a lesson learned the hard was for 18-year-old Buzzards Bay resident Daniel M. (hereinafter, the “Defendant”), if he did not know it beforehand. Currently, he is being held on $5,000 bail after he allegedly beat a family member with an aluminum baseball bat.

Yes, that would make this a case of domestic violence.

The Defendant was arraigned in Falmouth District Court Tuesday morning after being arrested for allegedly hitting the 43-year-old man (hereinafter, the “Unnamed Complainant”) in the head with the bat at around 12:15 a.m. yesterday outside a Buzzards Bay home.

According to law enforcement, the Defendant struck the Unnamed Complainant with the bat after the latter attempted to leave after the two had had an argument.

When the investigating authorities arrived, they found the Unnamed Complainant lying in the driveway, unconscious and bleeding from the head, Bourne police said. He was taken by MedFlight helicopter to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston early yesterday morning, according to Bourne police.

Continue reading "Baseball Bat Assault In Massachusetts Results In Felony Arrest" »

Today’s posting on the Boston criminal lawyer blog does not really involve Boston.

It does involve criminal law, though. As well as show business.

You may have heard snippets over the past months of Lindsay Lohan and her difficulties with the law. One such difficulty has been showing up in court for such incidentals such as probation violation hearings.

Finally, it would seem that the court had enough.

Yesterday, a Los Angeles judge found Ms. Lohan in violation of her probation. The actress was sentenced to 90 days in jail. The hearing revolved around a missed court date in May. Ms. Lohan had claimed that the reason she had missed the court date was that she had lost her passport at the Cannes Film Festival and was unable to travel back to the states to attend the court date.

I hate when that happens, don’t you?

Continue reading "Boston And The Rest Of The World Watch As Lindsay Lohan’s Probation For Drunk Driving Is Surrendered" »

Massachusetts had more than its fair share of crimes this past holiday weekend. There were shootings in the Boston area, one homicide and, as one would expect from such a weekend, plenty of vehicular crimes. Criminal Defense attorneys will be needed.

For example, one Massachusetts woman was arrested this weekend in Salem, N.H., after police said she stole purses and led them on a harrowing chase with her 12-year-old daughter in the car.

This would be Maria M., 36, of Lawrence (hereinafter, “Mother Defendant”). She is said to have targeted customers at the Christmas Tree Shops, Target, and Market Basket in the area. According to the authorities, she would reach for purses left in shopping carts while the women looked away and "larcenied" her financial cares away.

According to witnesses, Mother Defendant brought a “young girl”, presumably her daughter, along for the July 4th festivities, as she liberated items from said purses.

Once the police spotted the described car, along with the occupants matching the description, they tried to pull her over.

This did not go too smoothly.

Continue reading "Lawyers Needed For Massachusetts Vehicular Crimes During Holiday Weekend" »

This weekend, we have been celebrating the birth of our country. Even a Boston criminal defense attorney recognizes the importance in that. In the meantime, the Cambridge couple (hereinafter, the “Defendants”) who were among 10 people arrested in three cities last week as part of an alleged Russian spy ring have been arraigned in Federal Court and await an opportunity to make bail and recover their freedom.

Good luck.

The government says that the Defendants were sent to live in the United States under false identities to hobnob in spheres of influence, an idea one civil liberties lawyer called laughable given their jobs as a software company executive and a real estate agent.

“These so-called spies really had a racket,” said Harvey Silverglate, author of Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent. “The idea that they were going to pick up useful intelligence in the circles they were moving in is absurd. They have defrauded the Russian intelligence agencies and gotten a decade of free support in exchange for no useful information.”

As Attorney Silverglate also points out, unless the investigation the FBI conducted over nearly a decade yields more damning evidence than what has so far been released, the people most harmed by the whole affair, Silverglate said, may turn out to be the American taxpayers.

Continue reading "A Boston Criminal Defense Attorney Discusses Federal Court, Alleged Spies And Liberty" »

Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr is having a field day on this one. Who can blame him?: The surface-layer ironies here are numerous!

“Hey”, he muses, “they don’t call it the Red Line for nothing.”

The rollicking news that some Cambridge residents have been arrested and accused of being Russian spies should be enough to keep us in stitches with puns focusing on titles like “Reds”, “Ruskies” and ( of course) “The People’s Republic Of Cambridge” for weeks to come.

Anyone out there miss the “good old days” of the 1950’s? Here is your chance to experience yesteryear.

The story treating us to all this hilarity is the arrests of accused Russian agent Donald Heathfield and his wife, Tracey Lee Ann Foley (hereinafter, collectively, the “Defendants”), among others in other locations not as humorous, for espionage. According to federal authorities their investigation shows that they are a part of a Russian spy ring arrested this past weekend.

It remains in doubt, according to the federal prosecutors, how much useful information from the Defendants or their co-defendants actually reached Moscow. It is clear, however, that the Defendants and their alleged cohorts were in places where valuable information was available.

Continue reading "Cambridge Couple Are Arrested For Federal Crimes Of Espionage" »