Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog

Massachusetts politics can be a dangerous business. We have talked many times how it can run, and ruin, the criminal justice system. Sometimes, however, it can provide the system with new business.

Take the case of Antonio Arevalo (hereinafter, the “Battered”) for example. He has been a critic of Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua. A very vocal cri.

This angered some folks...one man in particular. David Figueroa (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) works as a bouncer for La Guira, a nightclub which is popular with the mayor. Apparently, he did not care for the Battered’s attitude.

According to the Battered, he was confronted and beaten by the 6-foot-9 Defendant who called him "a snitch" and the "man who took the mayor to court." .

Well, it is actually not only according to the Battered. The event was actually caught on videotape which has now hit the internet.

Anyway, The result was apparently a broken arm (in two places) for the Battered and a the need for a Massachusetts Assault and Battery Attorney for the Defendant

Continue reading "Lawrence Assault And Battery With A Dangerous Weapon Raises Questions About The Mayor’s Supporters" »

On Friday, we began talking about the testimony of New Hampshire murder suspect Christopher Gribble (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) on direct examination. I told you that I would discuss his cross examination today. As I also told you, I am not expert on New Hampshire law. I must say, however, that this Boston murder defense attorney would not be too optimistic about this particular client going home this side of life.

As you will recall, or check Friday’s blog (ok, it got posted Saturday), the Defendant has admitted to killing a Mount Vernon woman and trying to kill her young daughter. However, his defense is that he was legally insane at the time and so cannot be held responsible.

It is not unusual for proverbial sparks to fly during cross-examination. In fact, it is usually what the cross-examiner is hoping for. The dirty little truth, and something about which I have reminded you from time to time, is that perception is what generally effects the jury most...not simply the evidence itself. Therefore, if the cross-examiner can get the witness angry and seemingly annoying or unfair, then it is good for the cross-examiner. Often, this is more important than the words actually spoken by the witness.

Of course, in this case, I don’t see either as being too helpful for the Defendant.

Continue reading "The Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog Discusses Cross-Examination, Insanity And New England Murder" »

The Massachusetts criminal trial of Anna Tang, an ex-Wellesley College student accused of stabbing her ex-boyfriend seven times, is scheduled to resume tomorrow. The 5-month delay occurred after a psychiatrist, who is a prosecution expert, revised her findings about whether or not Tang was legally insane when she assaulted Wolfe Styke in his MIT dorm in 2007. Tang was charged with Massachusetts armed assault with intent to murder and home invasion.

The psychiatrist, Dr. Allison Fife, had initially been in agreement with other defense experts that Tang could not be held criminally responsible for her actions during the attack because not only was the defendant's state such that she unable to grasp the scope of wrongfulness of her actions, but also she had been incapable of acting in a manner that adhered to the law. Tang, who has admitted to stabbing Styke, maintains that she had been suffering from bipolar disorder and depression and was legally insane at the time.

According to The Tech, MIT's newspaper, Tang’s decision to waive her right to a jury trial and seek a bench trial came after Fife made known her initial findings. After Fife changed her mind during the trial, Tang’s Boston criminal defense lawyer requested the delay. Tang’s defense team has alleged that Fife changed her opinion on the trial’s “last day” after having “extensive contact” with Styke’s mom.

Tang’s bench trial is taking place before Judge Bruce Henry who will issue a verdict.

Massachusetts College Campus Crimes
As a college student, having a criminal record can irrevocably alter your future. This is why it is important that you seek experienced Boston criminal defense representation to help you combat the charges.

Examples of Common Massachusetts College Campus Crimes:

• Underage drinking
• Drug charges
• OUI
• Sexual assault
• Physical assault
• Rape
• Cyber crimes
• Vandalism
• Larceny
• Stalking
• Shoplifting

Trial to resume for woman charged in MIT stabbing, Boston.com, November 30, 2010

Tang trial starts: Styke testifies, The Tech, June 11, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Read the Criminal Complaint (PDF)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Continue reading "Woburn Superior Court Trial of Ex-Wellesley College Student Accused of Stabbing Her Ex-Boyfriend to Resume " »

In East Boston District Court, Sharnell Donahue, 31, and Diane Tuck, 51, have pleaded not guilty to the Massachusetts criminal charge of armed assault with intent to rob. Donahue also entered not guilty pleas to the charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and armed assault with intent to murder.

Donahue is accused of allegedly stabbing a 44-year-old woman in the chest in Winthrop on the evening of November 11 and conspiring with Tuck and a 15-year-old girl of robbing the victim of drugs. Police were able to apprehend Donahue and Winthrop because of information gathered from witnesses, including the license plate number of a vehicle seen driving away from the stabbing scene. A black ski mask, which Donahue allegedly wore during the alleged assault, was found in the station wagon. Tuck had a knife with her when she was apprehended.

A judge has ordered Donahue and Tuck to stay away from the victim. Bail was set at $50,000 each and upon posting it the women would have to wear a GPS locating device.

Massachusetts Assault and Battery
Assault usually includes a threat of violence, while battery implies the unlawful physical contact of another person without permission granted. No physical harm needs to have occurred for an assault and battery charge to be filed. In some cases, the alleged threat and intended act will suffice.

Common Massachusetts Assault and Battery Charges:
• Indecent assault and battery
• Aggravated assault and battery
• Vehicular assault
• Assault and battery with a deadly weapon
• Assault and battery upon a child
• Assault with intent to kill
• Assault with intent to rob or murder
• Assault with intent to commit a felony
• Assault with intent to commit rape

There are serious consequences that come with a conviction for a Boston assault and battery crime.

Everett women face stabbing charges, Boston Herald, November 12, 2010

Two Everett women deny role in stabbing of woman in Winthrop, Boston.com, November 12, 2010

Related Web Resource:
Massachusetts General Laws

The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

Continue reading "Two Everett Woman Accused in Botched Winthrop, Massachusetts Robbery and Stabbing Plead Not Guilty" »

A Canadian teenager accused of sexually assaulting a boarding room classmate during a 2007 class trip to Boston has pleaded guilty to one count of Massachusetts assault and battery. Armin Ruzbie, 19, was one of four 11th grade students accused of entering the hotel room of the male victim, then 16, at the Midtown Hotel on November 16, 2007.

According to prosecutors, Ruzbie pulled down the boy’s pants and touched him inappropriately while someone else, who is now a codefendant, held him down. Ruzbie then called the boy’s room afterward claiming the incident was a joke. Another student had recorded the incident on video. While the codefendant faces the same Boston assault charges, the other two students were not charged.

Ruzbie has expressed remorse over his actions and says that he has tried hard to become a better person. After entering his guilty plea, he was sentenced to four years probation. He must also undergo evaluation for possible bullying and sex offender treatment. He is not allowed to go near the victim and his family, who are suing him in a civil lawsuit in Canada.

Although Ruzbie did not enter a plea for the charge of Boston indecent assault and battery, he was sentenced to pretrial probation for the crime. This means that if he gets in trouble again, prosecutors could decide to try him for this crime, which comes with a maximum five years in state prison for a conviction.

If your son or daughter has been charged with a Massachusetts crime, it is important that you work with a Boston criminal defense law firm that will know how to fight to obtain the best outcome possible for the case. Conviction for a crime can impact the rest of your son or daughter’s life. You must have a team that can advocate on his/her behalf.

Teen enters guilty plea in assault on student, Boston.com, August 5, 2010

Bully laments role in ‘sick’ sexual assault, Boston Herald, August 5, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Crimes Against the Person, The General Laws of Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Court System

Continue reading "Teenager Pleads Guilty to Boston Assault of Classmate in Hotel Room" »

Homicide can occur during the most unlikely of events. As a Boston criminal defense attorney, not to mention a Brooklyn prosecutor, I have seen my fill of events in which people acted in ways that they admittedly should not have and were left with totally unexpected results.

Deadly results.

Here is a tragic example from this past weekend.

Hector G. of South Boston (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) was in Lansdowne Pub on Lansdowne Street near Fenway Park. At the same time, Mike D., 23 from New York (hereinafter, the “Deceased”) was up from the Big Apple and visiting with some old college friends.

According to investigating officers, the Defendant became angry with a member of the Deceased’s group because of a brief “run in”.

And so it was that the Defendant did something stupid. He threw a beer mug at the Deceased’s table.

Continue reading "South Boston Man Faces Homicide Charges After Throwing Beer Mug; Needs Experienced Lawyer" »

Hey, the weather this weekend is supposed to be really nice. Are you looking for a fun activity for a summer’s evening here in Boston? Well, might the Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog suggest an evening at the fights?

No, I am not referring to wrestling or boxing or even a movie like “The Boxer” or “Rocky XVI”. Given the popularity of reality television, it is more in that vein. Sort of like a cross between that and watching some domestic violence...without the domestic.

If you would like a sample, just tune in to YouTube, Boston.com, or any one of a variety of websites sporting a video of a recent performance in Boston’s own Chinatown.

In watching it, you will be joining with Boston’s Finest. Currently, Boston police are reviewing a video that is circulating on-line of a violent altercation in Chinatown. Interest aside, there is apparently no investigation being conducted into the melee.

The 2-minute, 33-second video shows a group of seven gentlemen who appear to be harassing drivers and assaulting cars as they pass on Tyler Street in Chinatown.

Well, everybody has to have a hobby...!

Continue reading "Attorney Sam’s Take: Excitement With Assault, Battery And Weapons On A Fine Boston Evening" »

Unlike most nonfamous civilians, when a celebrity is charged with a crime, the case tends to make national headlines. In recent celebrity news, TV actor Charlie Sheen reached a plea agreement to resolve the domestic violence charges against him.

The 44-year-old actor was initially charged with second-degree assault and menacing and criminal mischief last December following an altercation with wife Brooke Mueller. Under the plea deal, Sheen is pleading guilty to a misdemeanor third-degree assault count and will serve his 30-day jail term in a Malibu jail. He must also attend rehabilitation. Time that the actor has already spent in rehab will be factored into his sentence.

Sheen must also complete 36 hours of domestic violence treatment and three months of unsupervised probation. The actor’s sentence will allow him to return to the set of his show "Two and a Half Men" in time for filming of the new season.

In another celebrity criminal case, actress Lindsey Lohan was released from jail after serving 13 days of a 90-day sentence. She was immediately sent to rehab. TMZ says she is being treated for an amphetamine addiction and for bipolar disorder.

Lohan had violated probation for a 2007 drunk driving charge because she did not show up for alcohol education classes. Her jail sentence was reduced because of an early-release program that combats overcrowding in the Los Angeles jail system and for good behavior. The 24-year-old movie star has admitted that she has an alcohol and drug problem.

Charlie Sheen to serve Aspen 'jail' term in Malibu rehab, CNN, August 4, 2010

Lindsay Lohan Released From Jail Into Rehab, ABC News, August 2, 2010

Charlie Sheen arrested on felony charges in Aspen, Colo., Los Angeles Times, December 25, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Celebrity Crimes, Yahoo News

Plea bargain, Cornell University Law School

Massachusetts Probation Service Fact Sheet, The Massachusetts Court System

Continue reading "Celebrity Criminal Cases: Charlie Sheen Pleads Guilty to Misdemeanor Third-Degree Assault and Lindsey Lohan Goes to Rehab After Serving Jail Time for Violating Probation for DUI " »

The Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog has discussed the seemingly newly “in vogue” crime of striking police officers with motor vehicles. Usually, these collisions turn out to be accidental. Sometimes, under the law, they are seen as either deliberate acts or the results of drunk driving.

For some reason, this summer has seen it almost become an epidemic.

The latest such alleged driver hails from Franklin and is 25-year-old Ari C. (hereinafter, the “Defendant”). The incipient happened this past Tuesday in Franklin. Apparently, she had even been told by an on looking construction worker that she had struck the officer.

She is said to have apologized and driven off.

Of course, since Tuesday, more news about the Defendant has surfaced. According to the Boston Herald, she is an “accused hooker who violated her probation".

Continue reading "Franklin MA Ex-Prostitute Violates Probation By Striking Police Officer With Vehicle" »

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" »

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" »

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?" »

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" »

As a Boston criminal defense attorney, I don’t seem to be able to read a news story and simply let it be. Particularly when it involves our criminal justice system and its participants.

After days of being unable to post the blog (again), I went looking for a story about which to write. At first, I thought I was thrown back to a few years ago when the clergy were in Justice’s sites, with now-adult-previous-child-complainants remembering sexual assaults of days gone by. This story, however, was a bit different.

The item involved the Reverend Emile B. (hereinafter, “Father Defendant”). He is a Walpole priest who was arrested by the State Police earlier this week on charges of indecent assault and battery.
The complainant, a 21-year-old-man, alleges that the assault occurred while he was an adult...in fact, this very week.

The accusation is that Father Defendant , co-pastor at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Walpole, followed the complainant into a wooded area behind the Route 138 Park and Ride lot in Canton at about 8:30 a.m. and touched him inappropriately, State Police said in a statement. The complainant claims that he then ran out of the woods and back into the lot to call the police. It was then that he allegedly observed Father Defendant get into his car. The complainant wrote down the license plate number and State Police tracked Father Defendant down at his home in Walpole, according to the statement.

Continue reading "A Boston Criminal Defense Attorney Returns To Examine A Walpole Priest Arrested For Sexual Assault " »

Sometimes, you find a case that seems to reveal a new low in criminal acts. As a Boston criminal defense attorney for many years, I have seen more than my fill.

Allegedly, that is.

A Brighton man was arrested Monday night for allegedly robbing a 67-year-old woman who uses a wheelchair for mobility purposes, according to police officials.

Jerdon B, 48, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) is said gentleman. At about 11:40p.m., officers responded to the Mission Hill neighborhood to investigate the event.
.
The Defendant was charged with unarmed robbery for allegedly robbing the complainant while she was waiting for the Green Line trolley, police said. The suspect then allegedly pushed her onto the tracks on Huntington Avenue.

His reward? Ten bucks.

Continue reading "Boston-Area Man Is Charged With Robbing And Assaulting Elderly Woman In Wheelchair " »

Yesterday, we began discussing the topic of bullying again. As if the topic were not enough, I was inspired by the Sunday Boston Globe front page article on the subject this past week. As a criminal defense attorney of some years, it is a subject that deeply troubles me. If you are a regular reader to this blog, you know that I am troubled by not only the bullies…but the response to and perpetuation of the bullying itself.

The Boston Globe article focused on a young lady from a suburb west of Boston. She shared the back-story of the bullying. It is not an unusual story. The rather brave high schooler, willing to give all details as well as have her name printed (which, due to her age, both the Globe and I have decided not to reveal), revealed the rather typical story.

Lexi had a friend before she began her new school. They had been friends since grade school. Like most friends, they had shared sleepovers, secrets, and favorite movies. Then, last summer, the friendship ended. Lexi decided that her friend was a negative influence. What happened at the start of the new school year, her former friend confirmed that belief. The first shot over Lexi’s bow was the posting of silly pictures she had taken with said former friend. They were posted on Face Book and viewed by everyone.

It would appear that the saying “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” goes for platonic friendships as well. As described more yesterday, this began the deluge of bullying that Lexi was to endure throughout the school year.

Continue reading "Assaults, Threats And Bullying In Boston Schools – Will The Law Help? (Part Two)" »

As a Boston-area criminal defense attorney, I face many “There but for the grace of G-d go I” moments. As I have often discussed in these postings, I am constantly presented with lives that have been ruined by very bad moments. Such moments can change an otherwise on-track life into something of a living nightmare. Some people choose such moments on a regular basis. For others, dealing with the debris of one such moment is enough to last a life-time.

Last week, I side-stepped one such moment.

I was appearing on a murder case at Suffolk Superior Court which involved a shooting. As it turned out, the next door session had a murder trial of its own in which the jury was deliberating. Ironically, the subject matter of that case was related to my case. I waited awhile in case the verdict came, but it did not.

It came the next day instead. I wasn’t there, but I learned in the papers that the verdicts were guilty. But, as it turned out, the verdicts were the least of the excitement the court experienced.

Moments after the defendants were denounced by the deceased’s family for their “animalistic’’ actions in a victim impact statement, the courtroom exploded into a melee between said victims and families of the four men convicted of murdering the 16-year-old on a Dorchester street in 2007.

After being given the mandatory sentence for second-degree murder (life with the possibility of parole after serving 15 years) one of the convicted lads protested his innocence,

The clerk then announced that the men were sentenced to prison for their “natural life.’’
One of the defendants’ relatives shouted out, “What do you mean ‘natural life?’ ’’

Continue reading "Assault And Disorderly Conduct Charges Result From Boston Courtroom Murder Trial Sentencing" »

In the Boston area, nine young men, ages ranging from 15 to 21 are now in need of criminal defense attorneys. They are accused of horribly assaulting a 19 year old developmentally disabled teenager in Dorchester.

They left him bloodied and screaming for help, the prosecutor said.

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley issued the statement that ''A crime like this just shocks the conscience...It’s obscene."

The scene of yesterday’s arraignments was a familiar one. The court read the charges, the prosecutor filled in the blanks, adding the detail and commentary about the allegations and the defense attorneys denied all guilt for their clients who were basically “good kids”.

As is often the case in such matters, there are differing views of what happened. While the defendant is not required to give his this early, or, actually, at all, there are claims that some of the nine defendants were actually trying to help the victim, not attack him.

The attack came to the attention of law enforcement when police were called by a man who apparently witnessed it shortly before 5:00 PM on Monday. His attention was drawn to it when he was working in his back yard and heard a "God-awful scream”.

Continue reading "Nine Boston Youths Are Charged With Assault And Battery In Bullying Attack Of Disabled Teen" »