The long and painful saga of the trial of Michelle Carter, charged with Involuntary Manslaughter in the 2014 suicide death of her 18 year-old “boyfriend” Carter Roy III, is not completely finished. Not on a legal level, because Carter has yet to be sentenced – that will come later. And…
In my previous post on Christmas Day, I wrote briefly about the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s (SJC) decision earlier this week barring life sentences for juveniles convicted of murder. The SJC’s concerned the case of Gregory Diatchenko, who was 17 in 1981 when he murdered a man in Kenmore Square.…
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) has delivered a Christmas present to about 63 convicts who were sentenced to prison for life when they were juveniles – which, prior to earlier this year, meant age 17 and under. The court barred life sentences without parole for juveniles yesterday (Tuesday, December…
When it comes to violence within a relationship, or after a breakup, the word that does not come to most people’s minds is “teenagers.” We instead think of high school sweethearts, first crushes, first dates, dances and prom nights. Those are all very nice, but another reality exists in the…
A major change took place in Massachusetts criminal law yesterday, and fairly quietly at that. For years, 17 year-old criminal defendants have been charged and tried as adults in Massachusetts. This law was enacted several years ago in the wake of several extremely violent and disturbing crimes committed by teenagers…
Here’s another example of “creative sentencing,” a judicial approach to punishing criminal defendants that doesn’t rely on the “traditional” penalties of fines and incarceration. Alternative, or creative, sentencing is growing in popularity across the country, and here in Massachusetts, also. And it isn’t limited to just adult defendants. Here in…
It made headlines today in The Boston Globe and countless other newspapers across the U.S.: The United States Supreme Court, in a divided decision, struck down mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles who are, or were, convicted of murder. The court ruled that such sentencing statutes violate the ban against “Cruel…
Yesterday I had the pleasure of again making an appearance as a Legal Analyst on Fox-25 TV News/Boston. Here is the link to that media appearance: http://bit.ly/whyW4W The news team called me because I often serve as a Legal Analyst for them as a Boston, Massachusetts Criminal Defense Attorney. I…
As readers of this blog are well aware from my previous posts on the subject of the school bullying death by suicide of Phoebe Prince in January (as well as the suicide death of Carl Joseph Walker Hoover last April 2009, I feel that there should be much stronger anti-bullying…
Striking down a city ordinance that I am sure was well-meaning and not malignant in its intent, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) yesterday ruled unconstitutional a city of Lowell ordinance making it a crime of youths under the age of 17 to be on city streets after 11:00 PM…