Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog

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.

Continue reading "MA Convicted Car-Jacker And Murderer Fights Conviction, Blaming Lawyers In Federal Court" »

Today is Memorial Day, a day in which we pause to remember the fallen. Generally, we remember those who have fallen in the armed services while they were defending and protecting our country from outside threats.

I would like to take a moment to remember another category of protectors and defenders. These people, however, guard against inside threats. They are involved daily in more local battles that end up being resolved in the trenches of the courtroom. The dangers they face, however, are very real.

Joseph Galapo had been an undercover police officer with whom I worked during my days as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn, New York. At the time, I was in the narcotics bureau, happily indicting names I had been informed were the enemy in the “War Against Drugs”. That's all they were to me then…names. The police officers who were our witnesses, however, were human beings. We saw them on a regular basis. We got to know some of them beyond the badge and thin blue line. Joe was one such guy.

Shortly after the birth of his second child, he quit working undercover because of the obvious dangers. He began to work in a safer capacity…as a uniformed narcotics investigator.
Joe was thirty years old when he was shot and killed during what should have been a routine drug bust in a typical Brooklyn Street. In the chaos of an arrest, a partner’s gun was jolted and it discharged a bullet into Joe’s head.

Continue reading "A Boston Criminal Defense Attorney’s Take On Carnage Around The Justice System" »

I grew up in the Boston area. I remember, when I was a kid, my father reading the newspaper and seeing an article that a former friend of his had pleaded guilty to several white collar crimes.
Actually, the reason the gentleman was a “former” friend was that my dad was one of the victims of the alleged fraudulent acts. Until reading that article, my dad had been convinced that his friend had not intentionally misled him to his detriment, but that the unfortunate result had been simply bad luck.

Now, my dad was convinced that he had been duped. “After all”, he said, “Why would the guy plead guilty if he were not guilty?”

It sounded right to me at the time.

Years later, I became a prosecutor in Brooklyn, New York. This was the start of my real education as to how the system works.

My answer to my dad’s question has rung hollow ever since.

Continue reading "Attorney Sam's Take: Charged With A Crime In Boston - What Now?" »

Paul Shanley, 78, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) is a defrocked priest who was sentenced in 2005 to 12 to 15 years for raping a 6-year-old boy in a Boston suburb parish in the 1980s. Now, his attorneys are challenging the conviction.

Most of the testimony by the complainant against the Defendant was said to be based on previously repressed memories. The Defendant is now challenging the notion of repressed-recovered memories, or dissociative amnesia.

During the Defendant’s trial, the then 27-year-old, victim testified that he did not remember the abuse until 2002 when news reports of other men accusing the Defendant of sexual assault. He claimed that it was these accusations that triggered his own memories. The memories included the Defendant pulling him out of Sunday school over a six-year period to rape and grope him in the bathroom, the confessional and the pews.

Now, the Defendant’s lawyers assert that jurors never should have heard the victim's tearful account because the psychiatric community itself cannot agree on whether repressed memories truly exist.

Continue reading "Appeal Of An Infamous Rape Conviction In Boston's Supreme Judicial Court" »

The website Boston.Com has a story that is probably meant to give us a feeling of justice. It concerns one Kenneth Waters. Mr. Waters spent more than 18 years in prison after being convicted of murder. There, he passed through all of the “safeguards” that we have put in place, namely appeals, as the world around him passed him by. Finally, he got DNA that was at the scene tested. Between that and other newly discovered evidence, he was exonerated. The town of Ayer, who had brought the charges and investigated the crime in the first place had now agreed to pay $3.4 million to settle the civil rights lawsuit on Mr. Water’s behalf, Attorney Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project announced yesterday.

Of course, it is not likely to do Mr. Waters too much good; he is dead.

The lawsuit was filed by Mr. Water’s estate. The investigation which finally led to the truth in the murder for which Mr. Waters was convicted was not conducted by the town, state or even federal authorities.

It was led by his sister who, after he brother, in whom she believed, was wrongfully convicted, went to law school, and became a lawyer and started the “good fight” of freeing her brother.

Continue reading "Attorney Sam’s Take: Wrongfully Convicted In Massachusetts? Reality Check In Murder And Assault Cases" »

David Frank, of Boston’s Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, has reported this week on a story that has become achingly familiar. It involves the issue of the wrongfully convicted.

Ulysses C. (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) is now 59 years old. On May 17, 2001, he was released from prison after serving 19 years of an 80 year sentence for unlawful confinement, rape and robbery. He was released from custody after DNA testing on the physical evidence used against him exonerated him of the crimes for which he was convicted.

But, then, what does “exonerated” really mean? Does it clear a man’s name? Can it give him back the nineteen years he unjustly lost at the hands of the Commonwealth?

In recent years, a number of criminal defendants have been convicted, only to be released after having served many years, after DNA evidence was discovered which showed that they were not, in fact, guilty.

Interestingly, District Attorneys still try to fight attempts by convicted defendants to have DNA tested for some reason, which is odd given their sworn oath to “do Justice”.

Continue reading "Boston Defendant Wrongfully Convicted For Rape And Robbery Wins Jury Trial Against The Commonwealth" »

By now, you have probably heard of the gentleman who has allegedly chosen the name “Clark Rockefeller”. The Commonwealth says his real name, or part of it, is Christian K.G. We, however, will simply call him the “Defendant”.

He is facing charges in Boston for parental kidnapping. However, his attorney is arguing that it is too prejudicial to have the trial in the city and that the matter should be moved to western Massachusetts.

The reason?

The defense argues that, because of the extensive media coverage, the potential jury pool has been tainted to the extent that it is impossible for the Defendant to receive a fair trial.

The argument is based on a survey done for the defense which found that more than three-quarters of respondents in Suffolk County — where potential jurors would be culled — said they were aware of the case. Of those, roughly half said they believed he was guilty.

"That’s a staggeringly high figure, even for a high-profile case," said the Defendant’s attorney.

The prosecutor, however, not to be outdone in his mathematical abilities, countered that the same poll found 52 percent of county residents had not formed an opinion.

Continue reading "Boston criminal defense lawyer seeks to move high- profile case out of Suffolk County" »

24 years after he was convicted of raping a college student, Timothy Cole was finally exonerated of the crime. Last week, a judge ordered that Cole’s criminal record be expunged after DNA evidence proved that he was innocent, as he has always maintained. Unfortunately, the exoneration comes too late for Cole who died from asthma complications in 1999 at age 39. He was serving a 25-year prison sentence for a crime he did not commit.

DNA findings are now linking the rape to Jerry Wayne Johnson, who is already serving a lifetime prison sentence for more than one rape crime. On Friday, he admitted to raping the young woman. He is asking the victim for forgiveness.

Ruby Cole Session, Cole’s mother, expressed gratitude that her son’s name has been cleared. The rape victim, Michele Malin, has also come forward to clear his name. She is now 44.

Malin had identified Cole out of a photo lineup, during a live lineup, and again at his criminal trial. She says that when her case was under investigation, officials had portrayed Cole as a violent criminal.

It is reportedly not uncommon for investigators and police to manipulate lineups or for witnesses to identify a suspect who looks like the perpetrator—especially if the real criminal is not present.The dead man’s family now wants the Texas governor to issue a formal pardon.

In an unrelated case, another man was released from a Texas prison last month when DNA evidence also proved that he was serving a 99-year prison sentence for a crime he did not commit. Charles Chatman was convicted of aggravated sexual assault 28 years ago. He is the 15th inmate to be set free in Dallas County in the wake of new DNA evidence.

In Massachusetts, DNA evidence was also a key factor in exonerating Anthony Powell who was convicted of rape and kidnapping after serving more than 12 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Powell's conviction was vacated in 2004. Last year, Massachusetts police arrested Jerry Dixon for this crime and three others after he took a DNA test.

Rape crimes can be tough cases to prove and the wrong person be charged with a crime he or she did not commit.

Judge clears dead Texas man of rape conviction, Yahoo.com, February 7, 2009

DNA evidence frees Texas man after 26 years in jail for rape, USA Today, January 3, 2008

Innocent man finally finds justice, Boston Herald, July 18, 200i

Related Web Resources:
The Innocence Project

New Efforts Focus on Exonerating Prisoners in Cases Without DNA Evidence, NY Times, February 7, 2009

Continue reading "DNA Evidence Exonerates Man of Rape Conviction 10 Years After His Death" »

The chief judge of the Boston ‘s local United States District Court is threatening to sanction a federal prosecutor for what he characterized as the latest "egregious failure" of the United States Attorney's office to disclose evidence that could have helped clear a defendant. Undisclosed, the result could lead to a wrongful conviction.

Chief District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf said in a sharply worded memorandum that Assistant US Attorney Suzanne Sullivan failed to disclose that a Boston police officer's testimony at a pretrial hearing contradicted what the officer had repeatedly told the prosecutor beforehand. The defendant, a Mattapan man arrested on gun charges in July 2007, is still awaiting trial.

Wolf said the truth about the circumstances of the arrest came to light only when he reviewed Sullivan's notes of her interviews of the police officer, Rance Cooley. The judge wants Sullivan and her boss, US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, who are not related, to file affidavits by February 5th explaining why he should not sanction her, the US attorney's office, or both.

"The egregious failure of the government to disclose plainly material exculpatory evidence in this case extends a dismal history of intentional and inadvertent violations of the government's duties to disclose in cases assigned to this court," Wolf, a high-ranking prosecutor in the office in the 1980s, wrote in his 42-page ruling.

He listed at least nine major cases he presided over during the last two decades in which prosecutors working for Michael Sullivan and his predecessors allegedly withheld important evidence. In several instances, the jurist, 62, wrote, the misconduct led to mistrials and convictions that were overturned.

Continue reading "Boston Federal Judge chastises United States Attorney For Misconduct" »

On Tuesday, the state Appeals Court, located in Boston, granted Adam N. (hereinafter, the “Defendant”)’s appeal and Ordered that he receive a hearing in a drive-by shooting case in which he had been convicted in 2004. The basis of the ruling was that he had been deprived of a fair trial because his attorney was “ineffective”.

The Appeals Court sent the case back to Hampden Superior Court for the hearing. The Defendant’s appellate attorney said she is pleased with the Appeals Court ruling, although she would have preferred an order for a new trial without the hearing.

The case stems from December 20, 2002, when the Defendant is said to have participated in a drive-by shooting of two individuals, Akers and Cope, in downtown Springfield. According to the Court:

“The traffic light turned green. As Akers pulled away from the stop, he and the passenger in the other vehicle simultaneously rolled down their windows. At the same time, Akers reached to his right for the volume control on his car radio, in order to turn it down. He then heard gun shots. Akers saw the face of the front passenger and saw a flash coming from what he thought was a gun in the passenger's hand; Cope saw flashes, but did not see the passenger's face. The exchange lasted a few seconds. Both Akers and Cope were struck by bullets in their legs.”

The police were given the description of "three light-skinned black males, all very young looking." The witnesses were also able to describe the vehicle as “a dark colored car, possibly a Nissan or Honda, with tinted windows”. Later, in the hospital, the shooting victims discussed their recollections and one stated that the shooter “looked like a [Defendant’s last name] that he went to school with that was younger."

Continue reading "Boston Appeals Court Finds Defense Lawyer in Drive-By Shooting Case Ineffective " »

Ok, here is the scene:

You are home at night with your loved ones. There is a knock on the door. You answer it. It is the police.

You ask them what is wrong and they tell you that you assaulted the girl who lives down the street.

You know you didn’t, although you do know she has…issues. So, you tell the police that you have not done anything to her, but that you know she is a troubled kid.

“So, you do admit you know her, right? I mean, know her well enough to know that she has problems?”, they ask.

You answer that you do.

They suggest that you come down to the station so that you can all discuss this in more detail.

You go.

At the police station, you are brought to a room and questioned for hours. Funny thing, while they were interested in the girl’s issues for a while, they have suddenly seemed to decide that you are lying to them. The questioning goes on for hours. They do, however, keep inviting you to tell them what they want to know. They tell you that things will go much easier.

Regardless of what you tell them…they lock you up. From there on, you are considered by most to be guilty of whatever it is that she says you did.

Continue reading "Samuel's Take: Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer Discusses Justice System And Witch Trials Of Yesterday And Today" »

The Ten Commandments had a few things to say about interaction with one’s neighbors. It might have been helpful, however, had they mentioned what would later be named “the internet” and how it would play into things. At least, it might have helped a particular Andover couple.

Friday morning, Bill and Gail J., both 51 (hereinafter, the “Defendants”), were arrested and charged with criminally harassing their neighbors (hereinafter, the “Neighbors”) over the Internet because of a property dispute.

The harassment allegedly started with a fake advertisement on Craig's List for used golf carts and other items such as unwanted memberships to a national nudist association. You guessed it...the Neighbors were listed as the people to contact. It then escalated to fake reports of child abuse to state social workers, mysteriously opened bank accounts, and threatening emails and letters, prosecutors said.

The harassment took place over several weeks in March, authorities said. According to court records, the Neighbors began receiving dozens of harassing and threatening e-mails and phone calls. At one point, DSS social workers came to their home to investigate false claims that their 14-year-old son had abused a female at school.

The Defendants pleaded not guilty to counts of criminal harassment, identity fraud and conspiracy at their arraignment in Essex District Court, as they each stood by their individual attorney. Both lawyers said the Defendants are Tewksbury High School graduates who own a realty company and have lived in Andover for nine years. They are also parents of three teenage daughters.

Continue reading "Andover, Massachusetts, Couple Arrested For Internet Crimes Of Harassment, Identity Fraud And Threats " »

Tim Masters, who was convicted in the 1999 of murdering Peggy Hettrick, was set free today. Masters had been serving a lifelong prison term for her in 1987 that happened when he was just 15-years-old. Her mutilated body was found in a field near Fort Collins, Colorado close to Masters’s trailer.

Fort Collins police worked on the case for over 10 years before arresting Masters. He has served more than nine years of his sentence. Masters has always maintained that he was innocent.

It wasn’t until the last few months that special prosecutors and defense attorneys brought to light the fact that key information had been withheld from Masters’ attorneys during his 1999 trial.

Evidence reportedly withheld by police and prosecutors included a plastic surgeon who had said that a teenager could not have made the meticulous cuts that were done to remove Hettrick’s body parts and an FBI profiler’s warning to police that just because Masters liked to draw horror scenes did not mean he murdered Hettrick.

The sketches, a collection of knives, and a series of narratives helped persuade a Colorado jury that Masters was guilty. There was never any physical evidence tying him to the murder.

Masters is now 36 years old. A judge overturned his conviction and set aside his sentence after new DNA evidence showed that the DNA found on Hettrick’s clothing did not belong to Masters. He was released on a $200,000 personal recognizance bond.

Prosecutors say they will decide by February 5 whether to try him again.

DNA Evidence
Except for identical twins who can have identical DNAs, no one else has the same exact DNA. DNA is Deoxyribonucleic acid. It is the main building block for a person’s genetic makeup. The person has the same DNA in every cell of the body and this never changes.

During crime investigations, DNA evidence is collected to identify a suspect or eliminate a possible suspect. DNA evidence can also be useful in reopening closed criminal cases or solving unsolved crimes.

A person who was wrongly convicted can be set free based on new DNA evidence proving his or her innocence.

Murder conviction thrown out; Masters goes free, CNN.com, January 22, 2008

Tim Masters Set Free, MyFoxColorado, January 22, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Timeline of the Masters case, RockyMountain, January 18, 2008

Special Prosecutors Offered Stipulation (PDF)

Defense Demands New Trial for Masters, October 23, 2007 (PDF)

Understanding DNA Evidence

Continue reading "Tim Masters is Set Free After 1999 Murder Conviction is Thrown Out" »

An FBI forensic test considered so faulty that the FBI no longer uses it may have caused juries to wrongfully convict hundreds of innocent people who are now serving prison time for crimes they did not commit.

The forensic test uses a science called bullet-lead analysis, which links bullets used to commit a crime to bullets belonging to the suspect. The theory is based on the premise that a batch of lead will always have a one-of-a-kind chemical makeup.

In 2004, the National Academy of Sciences determined that there were inconsistencies in the bullet manufacturing process that proved the science “unreliable and potentially misleading.” Decades worth of FBI testimony to jurors could well have been “misleading under federal rules of evidence.” There is therefore a good chance that faulty test results administered as evidence could have led to wrongful convictions.

The FBI stopped using this particular forensic test in 2005. The government, however, has held back from releasing the list of some 2,500 cases in which the analysis was used. Many of these cases involve homicide convictions.

“60 Minutes” and the Washington Post have identified over 12 cases in which a court either reversed the conviction or must now investigate whether innocent people were sent to prison.

The FBI says it will start notifying prosecutors of the possibility that people were wrongfully convicted. The two-to-four timeframe for appealing the convictions, however, is nearing an end.

Wrongful Convictions
123 people in the United States have been released from death row since 1973 after their convictions were overturned.

The Innocence Project, which has helped overturn about 100 death sentences with post-conviction evidence, cites some reasons that innocent people are wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit.

In a study involving 70 cases where guilty verdicts were overturned, the Innocence Project found that:

• More than 30 of these convictions were because of prosecutorial misconduct.
• More than 30 of these wrongful convictions involved police misconduct.
• False witness testimony affected the outcome of 15 cases.

FBI's Forensic Test Full of Holes, Washington Post.com, November 18, 2007

Innocence and the Death Penalty

The Latest Statistics from the Innocence Project, Caught.net

Related Web Resources:

Innocence Project

Wrongful Murder Convictions in Massachusetts

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Continue reading "Did Faulty FBI Forensic Test Convict Hundreds of Innocent People?" »

A federal district judge has ordered the federal government to pay $101.8 million for the framing of four men for a 1965 gangland murder that they did not commit.

Two of the men who were wrongfully convicted, Louis Greco and Henry Tameleo, died while in prison. The other two men, Joseph Salvati and Peter Limone, were exonerated six years ago. Salvati had been on parole since 1997 while Limone was set free after serving 33 years in prison.

Judge Nancy Gertner said that FBI officials let employees “break laws, violated rules, and ruin lives” by wrongfully convicted them four men.

The men were exonerated after FBI memorandums were found that had not been submitted during trial. The memos indicated that the U.S. government’s main witness, mob hit man Joseph Barboza, had lied when he accused the four men of killing mobster Edward Deegan and that officials knew he was lying.

Barboza was allegedly protecting the actual murderer and FBI officials supposedly played along with him because, per the memo’s suggestion, Barboza had helped them solve other crimes and the real killer, Vincent Flemmi, was an informant.

Flemmi passed away in prison. He had been serving time for an unrelated case.

Limone was awarded $26 million. Mr. Salvati received $29 million. Mr. Tameleo’s estate received $13 million, and Mr. Greco’s estate received $28 million. The spouses and other family members of the four men also received money.

Limone accused the federal government of stealing 33 years of his life. He was 33 and the father of four young kids when he was arrested. He served several years on death row until Massachusetts got rid of the death penalty. Limone’s attorney said there was evidence proving that Barboza fingered his client because he refused to fire a waitress that Barboza had been romantically involved with.

Tameleo’s wife died while he was in prison. Greco’s wife became very depressed following his arrest and one of his sons killed himself after his father died.

Salvati’s attorney said that his client owed a $400 loan shark debt, which is why Barboza accused Salvati of committing murder.

In Massachusetts, the death penalty no longer exists. Life in prison without parole is the only penalty for first-degree murder.

Here is a list of other wrongful murder convictions that have taken place in Massachusetts.

U.S. Must Pay $101.8 Million for Role in False Convictions, NY Times, July 27, 2007

Resources for Keeping the Death Penalty out of Massachusetts

Related Web Resource:

Massachusetts Wrongfully Convicted, Northwestern.edu

Continue reading "Four Men Were Wrongfully Convicted in Massachusetts, and a Federal Judge Orders the US Government to Pay $101.8 Million" »