Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog
They say that “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”. If what the Commonwealth is saying about a certain Lynn elementary school teacher, we may have new support for that proposition.
49-yeare-old Kimberly Ann English, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) is not teaching her class today. Instead, she is being held without bail on charges that she drove her car into her ex-husband’s girlfriend Tuesday night in Swampscott.
The Defendant was arraigned today at Lynn District Court. Her charges include violation of a restraining order, aggravated assault and battery with intent to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and leaving the scene of a crash, according to Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s office.
She is scheduled for a dangerousness hearing next Tuesday.
The Defendant is a Swampscott resident. She alleged to have driven her car into the other woman as said woman and the Defendant’s ex-husband, Carl Schroeder, were unloading groceries outside his house on Magnolia Road in the town at around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Apparently, Mr. Schroeder and his two children were in Schroeder’s house when they heard the girlfriend screaming outside. Mr. Schroeder is also said to have told investigators that one of the children had told him that the Defendant had said she hoped the girlfriend would die.
The girlfriend’s injuries were said to be serious but not life-threatening.
Attorney Sam’s Take On Crimes Allegedly Committed Out Of Emotion
This longtime Boston criminal lawyer has had this type of discussion with many a client:
CL: I did not hit him. Why would I hit him? I could never hit him!
ME: Okay. Well, we have to explain why you were standing over his bloody body with a blood-drenched baseball bat in your hand.
CL: Well, he was really upsetting me! He said the nastiest things! Anybody would have beaten him to a pulp!
There are folks out there who seem to think that if you have a decent reason for doing something then it is the same thing as not having done that something. It isn’t.
If you did not commit the act, that is certainly a defense. You did it because the recipient was “asking for it”, it is not a defense.
“Well, Sam, what about the theory of ‘self defense’?”
That has to do with physical threats of bodily harm. While the circumstances leading to a fight or a Massachusetts assault and battery might help you to mitigate damages and make you seem less unreasonable in introducing skull to bat…the pounding is still a crime.
Thus, in this case, while there are defenses available, any statements made by the Defendant, or anyone on her behalf, explaining how the girlfriend deserved to get run down is not going to help the defense in any way. It would serve only to help the Commonwealth prove motive.
In this case, motive is already somewhat understood. We know there was bad blood (no pun intended) between the two women given the outstanding restraining order.
Also, given the renewed sensitivity to what boil down to a domestic violence situation, or at least the violation of a restraining order, the Defendant is in a world of trouble.
Felony-type trouble.
An experienced criminal defense attorney is needed pronto if she is hoping to get out of custody sometime soon.
To read the original story upon this blog is based, please go http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/09/11/swampscott-woman-charged-domestic-violence-hit-and-run-crash-that-injured-pedestrian/wLCMj53p3ruQnCjZ453v1J/story.html
