Now that voters in Massachusetts have overwhelmingly approved (by a 65% to 35% margin) last week’s November 4, 2008 statewide ballot initiative, it falls to the state’s chief prosecutorial and law enforcement officials to “iron out” the new procedures and legal protocols necessary to shift away from the decades-old criminal…
A cornerstone of American criminal law is that an accused is innocent until proven guilty. That’s a critical protection within our criminal justice system, and it distinguishes us from the systems that some other countries use. Notwithstanding this precept, it seems that some people, no matter how many times they…
A little too much time has passed since my last post, so let’s resume where I previously left off. First, let’s look at the legal facts of this case. Of the 12 charges filed against Simpson, the most serious in terms of penalties are the charges for armed robbery and…
Apologies to my readers for my having not posted something for so long. I’ve been very busy lately with some demanding legal issues. Let’s turn the focus back to what’s current in the news of criminal law. O.J. Simpson finds himself again behind bars. This time, football star and celebrity-in-exile…
In my previous post, I discussed the arrest last week on rape charges of a recent Massachusetts prison parolee, one Richard Flowers, released two months ago in July. While this year isn’t an election year in Massachusetts for statewide offices such as Governor, you can be assured that if it…
An alleged rape and beating of a 25 year-old woman at Boston’s Back Bay Commuter Rail MBTA station is sure to raise the issue of releasing parole convicts sentenced for violent crimes, as well as raise questions of what, if anything, might be done in the future to predict violent…
Continuing my discussion of Elliot Weinstein and Stephanie Page’s complaints of legal media analysts’ commentaries of the Entwistle trial, from my previous post: Fact: On the day the verdict was delivered, talk radio was abuzz with news of the verdict, especially WRKO-680AM/Boston. Almost all callers to the Howie Carr Show…
In my previous post, I discussed how Neil Entwistle’s attorneys, Elliot Weinstein and Stephanie Page, had conducted an extensive sit-down post-trial interview with Massachusetts Lawyers’ Weekly, which appeared in the July 14 2008 edition of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. Weinstein and Page said several things in that interview, and I’d like…
Will the detritus from the Entwistle case never cease? An interesting thing happened on the way to summer last month. I haven’t yet talked about it here, but for some time I’ve wanted to. Here’s the background: The July 14 2008 edition of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, the paper of record…
In my last post, I talked about the Clark Rockefeller case, closing with the question of what, if any crimes Rockefeller might be charged with in this case. Given the incredible, yanked-from-Hollywood story that seems to be this man’s life for the past thirty years, complete with multiple identities and…