Samuel Goldberg has been a Massachusetts criminal defense attorney for 20 years. Prior to that, he was a New York state prosecutor. He has published various articles regarding the practice of criminal law and frequently provides legal analysis on radio and television, appearing on outlets such as the Fox News Channel, Court TV, MSNBC and The BBC Network.
To speak to Sam about a criminal matter call 617-492-3000.
This daily criminal law blog has been short-ciruited today due to internet failure. However, it will reappear tomorrow (yes, even though it is Saturday) with the planned discussion of murder investigations, witnesses and pizza delivery.
Oh, yes. And do we mean by "truth" in the criminal justice system?
Until then...beware of Hurricaine Earle!
Yesterday, we discussed the mechanics of this matter. Basically, we addressed the difference between a criminal appeal and a motion for a new trial as well as why it may have made sense for the defense attorney, prosecutor and SJC to take the action that they did. I should point out, by the way, that although this is a murder case, it does not change the procedures we discussed yesterday.
The case involved the December. 13, 2005, killings of four men in a basement in the Boston area. It had been dubbed the city’s worst shooting in 10 years.
The Defendant was convicted by a jury of killing Jason Bachiller, 21; Jihad Chankhour, 22; Edwin “E.J.’’ Duncan, 21; and Christopher Vieira, 19. Prosecutors said that he shot the men because he wanted a 9mm Glock pistol Vieira legally owned. According to them, and, it would appear, the jury, the Defendant took the gun from Vieira, shot him, then turned the gun on the three others as they tried to run away.
The Defendant was convicted and sentenced to consecutive life sentences. As discussed on Monday's blog, the Commonwealth does not have a death penalty, so that is as tough as sentences get.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”), the Commonwealth’s highest court , situated in Boston, has rejected a motion by Calvin C., convicted in the 2005 Bourneside murders,(hereinafter, the “Defendant”) to stay his appeal so that he could seek a new trial based on evidence he said showed he was framed.
The Defendant is currently serving four consecutive life terms for killing four men in Dorchester.
The claim, as represented by the Defendant’s lawyer before the SJC, is that the Suffolk district attorney’s office had for over a year withheld information that potentially cast doubt on his guilt. This is known as “exculpatory evidence” which the prosecution is to deliver to the defense immediately upon discovering it.
On August 13th, prosecutors apparently provided the Defendant’s a February 2009 affidavit from an inmate asserting that another gentleman, who pleaded guilty to acting as an accessory to the murders, confessed that he was the real killer. Said gentleman was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
On Friday, the Supreme Judicial Court denied the Defendant’s motion for the stay on his appeal without offering an explanation or calling for a hearing. The Defendant had previously appealed the 2008 conviction, arguing that the trial judge in the case wrongly dismissed the one juror who believed the Defendant was not guilty of the murders. The Court of Appeals is still considering that appeal
A 24-year-old Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary has pleaded not guilty to charges of unlawful wiretap and breaking and entering in the daytime with intent to commit a felony. Daniel G. Richards was arrested on Sunday.
Richards is accused of breaking into another student’s dorm room and videotaping her without her consent. The female student reported the incident last July after discovering a video recording device in her room. She claimed that someone broke in.
Richards, who has been suspended indefinitely from the school and was ordered to move out of his dorm, is scheduled to appear in court for a pre-trial hearing at the end of next month.
In Massachusetts, a conviction for breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony can land a defendant in jail for up to 20 years. Other consequences can include suspension from school, loss of scholarship opportunities, having your applications for professional licenses denied, denial of US citizenship if you are an immigrant, loss of career opportunities, and the revocation of certain civil rights.
There are ways to combat a breaking and entering charge.
Other kinds of Massachusetts breaking and entering offenses:
• Breaking and entering with intent to commit a misdemeanor
• Breaking and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony
• Entering without breaking in the nighttime
• Entry without breaking into a dwelling in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony
Seminary student charged with secretly filming classmate, Boston Herald, August 31, 2010
Theological student charged with videotaping female student, WBZ, August 31, 2010
Related Web Resource:
General Laws of Massachusetts
It would appear that Boston-Based Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office is on the trail of what it believes to be an upcoming white collar criminal prosecution. The target is Representative Brian P. Wallace of South Boston (hereinafter, the “Target”). It has been alleged that he violated fund-raising laws.
A spokesman for Attorney General Coakley confirmed that her office is investigating the Target , a Democrat, based on a recent finding from the Office of Campaign and Political Finance
A May 14 letter from the campaign finance office cites evidence of several misdemeanor campaign violations by the Target, his wife and others involved with his campaign.
One would expect that any prosecution will use the Target’s retirement as evidence of “Consciousness of guilt”. You see, he acknowledged knowledge that campaign finance officials were investigating him when he announced his retirement in March. However, he explained at the time that, “…[t]here is nothing nefarious there. This certainly played no part in my decision.’’
He said he was retiring because he wanted to spend more time with his family and on his writing.
Well, let’s hope for the Target’s sake that he has unquestionably become “Captain Familyman” and, by the time of trial, is the picture of the prolific writer.
The Death Penalty has long been a controversial issue. Nowhere is that more true than in good ol’ Massachusetts. You see, the Commonwealth, like most states, has two criminal justice systems running through it – state and federal. The crime of murder, which often carries capital punishment sentences, is usually handled in state court. In state court, there is no death penalty. However, in federal court, there is.
Depending on the circumstances, however, some murders are handled in federal court. Gary S. (hereinafter, the "Defendant") got his murder and carjacking convictions in federal court.
The sentence? Ah, well, there is the rub.
The Defendant, originally of Abington, was convicted for his violent felonies seven years ago. The events apparently took place back in 2001. Now, seven years after a federal jury recommended the Defendant be sentenced to death for the crimes committed during a weeklong series of killings in two states, lawyers for the Defendant plan to argue in court today that he should get a new trial.
The Massachusetts criminal defense team for Gary Lee Sampson is scheduled to appear in court on Monday to argue that their client should get a new trial. Sampson, who a federal judge sentenced to death in 2003 for the murder of three people, contends that his constitutional rights were violated because his trial lawyers at the time were ineffective.
Sampson’s new defense team is accusing his old one of failing to fully depict to the jury the entire extent of Sampson’s traumatic brain injuries and mental illness. They believe that the evidence might have caused the jury to recommend a less harsh sentence for Sampson. If executed, Sampson would be the first person in 63 years to be put to death for a Massachusetts crime.
Sampson fatally stabbed 69-year-old Philip McCloskey 24 times on July 24, 2001 after the latter had picked up the hitchhiker in Weymouth. Sampson also carjacked the victim's car. A few days later, Sampson fatally stabbed 19-year-old Jonathan Rizzo, a driver who picked him up in Plymouth. It would be just another three days before Sampson would strangle 58-year-old Robert Whitney.
Sampson later pleaded guilty to all three murders. A federal jury in Boston made the recommendation that he put to death and US Chief District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf ordered that Sampson be executed in New Hampshire, which has a state capital murder law. Massachusetts does not have a state death penalty.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Sampson’s death sentence. Later, the US Supreme Court decided not to hear his appeal. Now, prosecutors for the US Attorney’s office say that they intend to fight Sampson’s motion.
Prosecutors seek to dismiss Gary Lee Sampson’s appeal, Boston Herald, August 29, 2010
Lawyers for convicted killer in carjacking murder spree seek new trial, The Boston Globe, August 29, 2010
Related Web Resources:
Sampson Timeline, The Patriot Ledger, High Beam Research, July 24, 2002
Read the 1st Circuit Opinion for this Case, Justia
The state Supreme Judicial Court will likely issue a ruling in the next few weeks on Christopher McCowen’s appeal to have his Massachusetts murder and rape convictions in the slaying of fashion writer Christa Worthington overturned. McCowen’s criminal defense team is arguing that it was wrong to allow the a substitute pathologist to testify about findings in an autopsy that another doctor had performed and they are now citing a recent SJC ruling that overturned the murder conviction of Eric J. Durand for the fatal beating of Brendon Camara, his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son, on similar grounds.
McCowen was convicted in 2006 for Worthington’s Truro, Massachusetts rape and murder. The 46-year-old Vassar-educated writer and Truro resident was found stabbed to death in her home in January 2002. Her 2 ½ year old daughter was with her, unharmed but hugging her mom’s body and smeared in blood.
In 2005, Police charged McCowen, who was the trash collector for Worthington’s residence, with the slaying. Even though McCowen agreed to let police test his DNA soon after the murder, it would be two years before the authorities would collect his DNA and another year before it was matched to the crime.
A little over a year after McCowen’s 2006 conviction for Massachusetts murder and rape, Barnstable Superior Court Judge Gary A. Nickerson held a public hearing during which time he interviewed jury members about allegations of racial bias. McCowen is black. The allegations formed the basis for McCowen’s criminal defense lawyer's request for a new trial, but the judge would go on to turn down the motion. McCowen’s Massachusetts criminal defense attorneys have challenged this ruling.
Cape and Islands prosecutor Julia K. Holler, who represented the state in McCowen’s appeal, says that while it was wrong for a pathologist other than the one that conducted the autopsy to testify in McCowen’s criminal case, because McCowen’s criminal defense lawyer did not object to a criminal trial the state’s highest court has to limit its review to whether the testimony created a “substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice." This is a higher legal standard than what was applied to Durand’s appeal and one which Holler claims that McCowen’s conviction case does not meet.
SJC ruling hovers over 2002 Cape slaying case, Boston.com, August 28, 2010
Conviction reversed in Mass. boy’s beating death, Boston Herald, August 20, 2010
SJC hears Christopher McCowen appeal, Cape Cod Online, May 7, 2010
Related Web Resources:
The General Laws of Massachusetts
Murder on the Cape: A tale of love and death, Boston.com, January 20, 2002
The Boston Criminal Law Blog has had a fairly police-intensive week this week. We began with
A police chase in which an officer accidently struck and killed a pedestrian (which, if we had done it would probably be treated as a homicide) and then with of law enforcement investigations and actions in cases of murder, vandalism, armed robbery and, “worst of all”, the “scourge” of prostitution.
And yet, critical as I may be, I claim to have a great deal of respect for police officers. Well, most of them, anyway.
And I do. I am not “anti-cop”.
True, my work tends to place me at the other side of the aisle from them in a courtroom. And yet, often, they are not my client’s enemy. It is often someone else who has made a certain report to the police which led to my client’s arrest.
“But Sam, you are always telling us how they lie during police investigations to get the unwitting to make statements.”
As expected, criminal justice history repeats itself in Massachusetts and its neighboring states. As discussed in earlier blogs, we have a new “Craigslist Robber” and our original “Craigslist Killer” has made the news again by robbing the Commonwealth of another high profile trial. He killed himself. As also discussed, armed robbery suspects are evading investigating officers, police officers are running over pedestrians and failing at picking them back up and even the heroic efforts of law enforcement politicians and our legislature’s efforts to stem the unstemmable tide of bullying has been called into question.
And that’s only over the past week or so! This can be embarrassing for our law enforcement leaders.
Fortunately, we have a solution.
Let’s crack down on the real plague to society…prostitution…and put some extremely public pressure on that damned Craigslist!
What? You think I’m kidding? Look, I’m kind of a creative sort, but I don’t think even I could make this stuff up.
September is a-coming. It would appear that it will soon be time, once again in Massachusetts, for those school-time hijinks like bullying, assault and vandalism.
And police investigations.
Well, it looks like some people just can’t wait. No, not a high school or college campus crime this time. The event took place at Julia F. Callahan Elementary School in Lynn this past weekend. Vandals trashed the school, dumping paint, spraying fire extinguishers, shattering glass, overturning desks and copiers, and spewing classroom materials throughout the building, according to Deputy Superintendent Jaye Warry and Lieutenant William Sharp of the Lynn Police Department.
The police describe that the “school was entered and extensively vandalized,’’ Superintendent Warry, who has worked in the Lynn school system for 25 years, said this break in was “up there on the extent of damage.’’ She went on to say that the vandalism affected most of the two-story building and that the principal’s office was destroyed.
Big happenings in the Boston area! A police investigation into a robbery with a gun! What could be more exciting than a big SWAT team operation? The Bad Guys are usually cornered and lives hang in the balance as the Good Guys take control and take whatever Bad Guys still exist after the stand-off into custody.
Such was the scene at Fenwood Road in Mission Hill yesterday.
Well, almost.
It was a tense four hours last night as the investigating Boston Police Department special operations team and dozens of police units surrounded the apartment at issue.
The targets?
Armed robbery suspects! Pretty serious stuff!
