I’ve been a trial lawyer for quite some time now. I’ve seen my share of clients who are outright innocent; guilty of a crime but legally “not guilty” due to a legal issue or procedural defect; and then those that are outright guilty. You can’t try cases from both the…
It’s ironic that a considerable number of drivers charged with Massachusetts DWI/OUI/Drunk Driving offenses so far this year, have hit city or state police cruisers. Just this past Monday, the commander of the Massachusetts State Police, Colonel Marian J. McGovern, was struck by an alleged drunk driver while driving her…
Now a few days old, the new Massachusetts Anti-Texting Law, (St. 2010, C. 155, “Safe Driving Law”,) stands out as Exhibit Number One (among many Exhibits) of how the Massachusetts Legislature goes about attempting to “solve” what is clearly a problem in this state: Electronically distracted drivers. There is absolutely…
The recent spike in murders in Boston have more than one candidate for public office, and more than one conservative talk show host, waxing on and on about how Massachusetts and other states should adopt the death penalty. Oh God, I think, not another round of this mindless debate. “Now!”…
In a ruling bound to enrage victim’s rights advocates and conservative legal and political commentators, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court yesterday issued a decision restricting District and Superior Court judges’ ability to require that GPS monitoring bracelets be worn by convicted Massachusetts sex offenders, regardless of whether offenders have violated…
A recent fatality stemming from drinking and driving underscores the dual criminal law and civil liability dangers associated with mixing alcohol and driving. An 18 year-old youth, Max Haberman, was killed in a Sudbury Massachusetts car crash last month. He had reportedly been drinking prior to the accident at the…
Last January, the Boston Globe published a lengthy investigative piece on an apparent mortgage fraud scheme run by several individuals. The story alleged that the ring was led by one Michael David Scott, a Mansfield, Massachusetts real estate developer, who recruited several other co-conspirators to assist him in the bank…
The suicide early Monday morning of accused “Craigslist Killer” Phillip Markoff forever ends any possibility of hearing from this man’s own mouth, the story of what brought death to a troubled young woman making her money as a prostitute, Julissa Brisman, and what brought down the life of a promising…
Readers of this blog know that I’ve written previously about Massachusetts CORI reform, and that I’ve advocated a balanced approach to any reform measures, preserving the privacy rights of those convicted of certain (but not all) crimes, while preserving employers’ and other organizations’ rights to legitimate criminal history data. I…
“Justice Delayed is Justice Denied” is generally speaking an accurate truism. But in some cases, not so. Legal events this past week in Falmouth District Court make clear that exception. Thirty years ago, in January of 1980, a woman by the name of Frances Carriere was found murdered in the…