Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog
Yesterday, I discussed the case of Antwoin Moore (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) of Brockton. Last week, the Defendant was allegedly driving around while his driver’s license was suspended.
The police say they tried to pull him over and he decided that flight was his best option. By the end of the episdoe, he lost his freedom and 49-year-old Maryanne Kotsiopoulos, whose vehcile he collided with, lost her life.
The Defendant is charged with a variety of motor vehcile crimes, including manslaughter..
Well, t turns out that, while it is worse this time, the Defendant has been in this spot before.
A year ago in fact.
According to local media, police tried to pull the Defendant over last year. He is said to have chosen the flight option then to.
He lost that race too, although it ended without anyone dead.
Last year, he is said to have told police that he did fled after running a stop sign because he did not have a license.
Last week, his attorney says that he did not stop for the unmarked police car because he thought he was being carjacked. The police say he had given them another reason. That he did not have a license.
Attorney Sam’s Take On Escalation Of Penalties
You probably do not need me to tell you that the Defendant’s predicament is more serious because appears to be the second time he was charged with such an offense.
To what extent the extra criminal liability is we would need to know the status of the 2011 case.
If that case is still open, then he stood at risk to be held without bail for up to 60 days without bail because gaining the new charges while out on bail (or being relesed on his own recognizance). Additionally, if and when the Registry of Motor Vehicles revisits the question of him getting a valid license, the second offense is likely to play a part of their deliberation.
“What if that earlier case was resoved closed?”
Then, things get a bit more sticky for the Defendant, unless the earlier case was either dismissed or ended up in a “not guilty”.
Most likely, there would have been some kind of probationary period, and that probation was still in effect, then the new arrest is clearly a violation of probation. In that situation, his probation could be revoked and he could be sent to jail to serve a sentence in the original case…long before the new case is resolved. If he had resolved the earlier case by way of a Continuence Without a Finding or Pretrial Probation, and the probationary period was still in effect, then, a CWOF could be replaced with a Guilty or the Pretrial Probation could be erased and the original case could be put back on a trial track.
Some criminal charges also have statutory language that provides that a conviction for the same crime committted for a second or third time (since a conviction of it once) brings additional mandatory sentences of incarceration. Even when this is not the case, judges and prosecutors tend to take a rather dim view of folks being arrested for the same crime again.
So, what we are left with for today is that there was even more reason why it was a bad idea to try to outrun the police…particularly when viewing how well it went last time.
The message for you?
If find yourself looking at criminal charges, you want to be represented by an experienced criminal defense attorney who is aware of these various considerations and realities and can translate them to you so that you truly understand your options.
Realisticaly.
For the original story upon which this blog is based, please go to http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1061168103&srvc=rss
