Springfield, Massachusetts has been suffering recently from a spike in violent crime; most of it gang and drug-related. That’s not an easy environment to live in, or work in. This is especially so for police officers that are assigned to violent crime units. These units can be either plainclothes or…
The Kickham Comment - Boston Criminal Attorney Blog
DiMasi Rolling The Dice? If So, It’s Not A Good Bet
From a total of over 80 potential jurors, sixteen have advanced to the final round of jury selection, as of Friday, April 29 2011, in the corruption trial of former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi. The sixteen, however, isn’t enough. U.S. District Court Judge Mark Wolf must select an…
Search Warrant Standards In Massachusetts Drug Arrests Still In Flux.
Two recent Massachusetts Appeals Court rulings have caused yet more confusion over probable cause standards that police must meet to be granted valid search warrants of a person’s home for illegal drugs. One recent case seemed to lower the bar somewhat for police seeking warrants to search a person’s home…
SJC Marijuana Ruling Underscores Need For Police To Focus On Serious Crime, Not Recreational Pot Users Part Two of Two
In my previous post, I reported on the SJC’s ruling last week, restricting police authority to order the operator or occupants of a stationery vehicle to exit the vehicle, based solely upon the odor of marijuana. In their ruling, the SJC emphasized that the public’s approval in 2008 of the…
Landmark SJC Ruling Underscores Voters’ 2008 Will: Police Stops For Marijuana Are Restricted – Part One of Two
This past week saw a major decision announced by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC,) on the subject of the presumption of criminal conduct being associated with the use of marijuana. The ruling, Commonwealth v. Cruz, Mass. SJC No. 10738, overturns precedent, establishes a major new benchmark in this area…
LaBrie Found Guilty of Attempted Murder of Son; Sentence Fairly Light
The trial of Kristen LaBrie was brought to a close earlier this week, with an Essex County jury finding her guilty on each of the four counts that she was charged with: 1) Attempted murder; 2) Assault and battery on a disabled person with injury; 3) assault and battery on…
SJC Prompts Legislature to Change Wiretap Law To Fight Street Gangs
Courts – especially appellate courts – usually exist to apply the law, not advocate for specific changes in the law. Advocacy of that nature is typically the responsibility and territory of legislators, lobbyists and activists. So it was with not a small amount of notice in the legal community in…
Massachusetts Drug Smuggling Cases: Are “Mules” Sometimes Victims, Too?
An arrest at Logan Airport earlier this week, alleging a Massachusetts drug offense, highlights an increasing problem in our nation’s increasingly ineffective “War on Drugs.” The arrest and charges involve a drug mule. A “mule” is a drug courier, who more often than not is not suspected of being a…
Marijuana Decriminalization: CT, RI Legislatures Following Massachusetts Voters
When it comes to drug policy and criminal law, some states in this country move faster, and more intelligently, than others. Two of those more rational states right now happen to be our New England neighbors, Connecticut and Rhode Island. I’ve blogged previously about how wasteful and counterproductive state and…
Bill Seeks To Narrow Obscenity Loophole Protecting Minors
It would seem that almost anyone could agree on the need to criminalize and punish Massachusetts sex offenders who deliberately send obscene messages electronically to minors, wouldn’t it? Well, make that “anyone could agree on the need” to accomplish these goals – but hardly the method. This reality has been…