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William D. Kickham, Attorney at Law

The Kickham Comment - Boston Criminal Attorney Blog

Massachusetts SJC Delivers a Christmas Present to Juvenile ‘Lifers’

December 25, 2013 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

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 24,) ruling that scientific research demonstrates that juvenile brains are “not fully developed,” and therefore that sentences of life in prison with no possibility of parole constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment”, in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

As a Boston, Massachusetts criminal defense lawyer, I have some thoughts about this. I’ll have more to say about this tomorrow, but for now, what I want to say to my readers is this: May the sentiment of goodwill toward man and peace toward others sink into people’s hearts long after this day and this season passes. Too much suffering abides this world.

Embarrassing Criminal Sentence In Texas “Affluenza” Case: Justice Gone Wild.

December 13, 2013 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

I defend people accused of crimes. Some of those crimes involve drunk driving. A surprisingly high number of those arrests can be remarkably benign and legally unjustified, and in those cases I am proud to fight my hardest to bring out the facts and to defend my client’s legal, constitutional rights. Almost all the time, no one is injured in these cases, and the persons that I represent are not low-life social reprobates.

But if you’re in the mood for an outrage-inducing legal story, read on. Just be ready to spit nails in anger or disgust. I wouldn’t blame you if you did.

The bare facts: Drunken driving case. Four people killed. Horribly grieving victims left forever more without their loved ones. Nine people injured. Two gravely; one so gravely he cannot move or talk due to brain injuries suffered in the carnage. He probably never will; his fate is in a way worse than death: Completely paralyzed, he can apparently communicate only by blinking his eyes to signal “yes” and no.”

Massachusetts Police Investigations: Literally, Money Talks

December 7, 2013 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

If I asked you what “CI” stands for, in the context of police work or criminal law, would you know? Almost certainly not. I wouldn’t expect you to.

No, it’s not the name of a new TV crime show. It stands for “Criminal Informant,” or, as they say in the prison system, a “snitch.” It’s the acronym for a known criminal, who the police have coaxed into working with them to land (i.e., arrest and charge) larger criminal targets. Now, most people think that the “coaxing” involved in these cases, usually involves an agreement to “go easy” on a criminal suspect, if that suspect provides police with valuable information on the bigger fish that the detectives have their eyes on: Information such as names, addresses, modes of operation, hidden locations, etc. So, for example, if a suspect is charged with Massachusetts drug trafficking charges, the police department involved might agree to reduce the charges to a “straight” charge of drug possession, for which the sentencing penalties are far less severe (vs. distribution or trafficking.)

But here’s the kicker that most people don’t know: Many Massachusetts police departments and other law enforcement agencies (such as the Massachusetts State Police,) actually pay suspects to not only provide “information” about other criminal suspects, but to testify against those suspects in court documents. Yes, you heard that right. You can get up off the floor now. Some police departments actually pay cash to suspects to provide “information” about other criminal suspects the police have targeted – and inevitably, the “cooperation agreement” the informant signs with the police, contemplates or involves testifying in court documents against those other suspects. In exchange, the informant is not only paid money, but their identity is shielded in court documents, identified only as “Confidential Informant/CI No. 1, (or 2, etc.)”

Massachusetts Domestic Violence Charges: Many Police Departments Turn a Blind Eye to Their Officers’ Own Problems – Part Two of Two

November 29, 2013 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

In my previous post on this subject, I wrote about how, for a variety of reasons that are both wise, and also some unwise, police departments these days are extremely aggressive when it comes to responding to reports of domestic violence. It is almost standard procedures these days that, when patrol officers respond to a “domestic,” one of the parties on the scene is going to be arrested – regardless of what the parties say or how minor the conflict or argument might have been. As I said, most of the reasons for this aggressive policy are sound and wise – but some are not. The reasons that are not so wise are grounded in an unstated policy with many Massachusetts police departments of “CYA,” in my professional opinion as a Dedham domestic violence lawyer.

That’s my professional opinion, based on years of experience in the courtroom, and I suppose it can be debated. What’s not subject to debate is a fact that, ironically enough (and worse, hypocritically enough,) a great many police departments do just the opposite when it comes to their own officers: Many look the other way when it comes to reports of domestic violence in police households. In fact, while most cops can be fired or severely punished for something so minor as testing positive for marijuana use, they can remain on the job and in uniform for battering a spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend.

Yes, you heard that right. You can get up off the floor now.

Domestic Violence Charges: Many Police Departments Turn a Blind Eye to Their Officers’ Own Problems – Part One of Two

November 25, 2013 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

As my website page on Massachusetts Domestic Violence Charges makes clear, this is one type of crime that police departments across Massachusetts issue pretty clear department policies on: When patrol officers respond to a call for a “domestic,” (as these dispatch calls are known in law enforcement circles,) someone’s going to get arrested. This is nearly a foregone conclusion even before the officers arrive at the location; even before they’ve had a chance to assess the situation, on scene.

Why? The reason is part historical – much of which justifies this hard-line approach, and part of the reason is political – much of which doesn’t justify the hard-line approach. Very briefly: Historically, 25+ years ago, “domestic violence” charges were often viewed by police officers and their departments as being merely fights between a couple, which almost every couple can sometimes have. Unless responding officers found someone that was clearly physically harmed or terrified for his (usually her) safety, they would commonly separate the couple, calm both parties down, and urge them to resolve their argument so that no one got in trouble. In the instances when someone was arrested, unless there were serious injuries involved, prosecutors and judges also treated the matter lightly, letting the defendant pretty much off the hook with a relatively quick and easy judicial disposition.

The problem with this soft-line approach was obvious: Eventually, a victim that might have been shoved or hit today, was tragically going to be harmed much worse by the abusive spouse or partner that was “let off the hook,” later on. Perhaps even killed. And that’s exactly what happened – on a much wider scale than some people might have guessed.

COORDINATED POLICE DRUG RAIDS RESULT IN 31 MASSACHUSETTS DRUG ARRESTS

November 17, 2013 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

The War on Drugs in this country is something that I have repeatedly criticized as ineffective, only empowering drug lords (both foreign and here in Massachusetts) and destined to failure.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t think that law enforcement should play “any” role in Massachusetts drug crimes. It means that we should back off prosecuting people for marijuana charges, and treat users of heavy drugs within the health care system, not the criminal justice system. Such drug users should not be treated as criminals to be locked up, but as sick patients that need to be treated medically. Massachusetts jails and prisons are already strained to the breaking point, and it is violent criminals who belong there, not drug users.

Notwithstanding, Boston Police announced on Friday night (Nov. 15) that more than 31 people had been arrested on various Massachusetts drug charges, as part of a wide, coordinated investigation involving five separate Police Departments. What made this sting operation so effective, was the fact that Boston Police had secured approvals and orders from a state court judge to utilize wide-ranging electronic and wiretap eavesdropping on key targets. Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley characterized the 31 defendants as being members of a dangerous and highly organized Massachusetts criminal drug trafficking enterprise. Months in the works, the effort was nicknamed Operation Limehouse after a city district in London. The program resulted in police raids Thursday night and Friday morning in Boston, Quincy, and other cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts.

Massachusetts Violence In Teenage Relationships & Breakups: More Common Than Most Realize

October 25, 2013 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

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 shadows. A reality of physical and emotional abuse, assault & battery, rape and even murder.

It isn’t a pretty picture. And one major reason people (read: parents) shove it out of their realities, is that they can’t conceive that their kid could possibly engage in this kind of behavior. It’s the same reason that most parents don’t address bullying or admit to their kid doing what he or she is accused of. “Not my little Johnny”; “My little Janie would never do that” is the denial that controls. And for the historically or geographically challenged, denial is not a river in Egypt.

Violence in teenage relationships transcends communities, and socioeconomic strata. It can also happen in both heterosexual as well as homosexual relationships. For the same reasons that it occurs in adult relationships, it also occurs in adolescent relationships: Jealousy, ego, rejection, insecurity, control – as well as the more malignant reasons of mental illness and psychosis. Alcohol and drug use can be factors as well, just as they can when violence punctures adult relationships.

Massachusetts Texting and Driving: What Is Wrong With This Very Clear Picture?

October 6, 2013 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

What is wrong with people in this country and in this state, that they won’t get the message that texting and smartphone use while behind the wheel, is a death wish? I’ve asked that question so many times that I’ve lost count, because no matter how much carnage occurs on the roads due to distracted driving in Massachusetts, and what laws are passed, people just can’t seem to put these foolish things – that were originally invented to make our lives easier, but which in fact have taken ourselves over like some kind of addiction – down while driving.

As a Boston, Massachusetts distracted driving lawyer, I’ve seen too many examples of Massachusetts motor vehicle accidents caused by texting and driving. Many of the injuries that result from texting and driving accidents are extremely serious. The motorists who pass by the scenes of these accidents gawk with typical curiosity, but does it cause them to change their own behavior? Shockingly, almost never. Perhaps one of those onlookers has been you?

An estimate by the National Safety Council claims that over 213,000 car accidents in the U.S. in 2011 involved texting while driving, 53,000 higher than in 2010. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly a third of Americans had either e-mailed or texted on while they were driving in a one month period. Many think they’ll get away with it unscathed and unharmed. Many more are wrong — dead wrong.

“Puppy Doe” Case: What Causes This Kind of Unimaginable Cruelty?

September 26, 2013 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

In my last post on this subject, I wrote of the literally unbelievable torture intentionally inflicted on an innocent dog, named Puppy Doe by the Animal Rescue League doctors and volunteers that tried, to no avail, to salvage its broken body and life. Police investigators have so far discovered that the female puppy was sold by its original owner on Craigs List, after the owner was reportedly told by her landlord that she could not keep a pit bull in the apartment she was renting. So, what did she do? Reportedly sold the dog on Craigs List. Except that she didn’t know who she was selling to or what their background was.

Horrifically, the buyer was a monster that happened to look human. Unimaginably, it was the sole intent of the buyer – some sick, twisted sub-human animal or animals – to buy the dog for the specific purpose of torturing it. What was done to this dog over at least the next two months was so horrific, that words cannot describe it. Doctors at Boston’s Animal Rescue League described a dog that had been intentionally starved down from a normal weight of 40 lbs. to less than 18 lbs. The animal had several broken bones, all over its body. Its skull had been perforated. Its nose had been repeatedly burned by cigars or cigarettes. Its tongue had been sliced apart to resemble a serpent’s. It’s limbs had actually been drawn and quartered, in medieval fashion, as though it had been torn apart on a rack. Veterinarians treating the dog described this case as “the worst they have ever seen.”

Like me, you must be shaking right now, unable to imagine the twisted scum that would do this: The sociopathic, psychopathic garbage that would do anything even resembling any of this nightmare, made real. You must be asking yourself, “What in God’s name could cause anyone to do such things? How could any human being do this?”

Massachusetts “Puppy Doe” Animal Cruelty Case: How Possible?

September 21, 2013 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

People across Massachusetts, and even the nation, are collectively appalled and sickened by what has become known as the “Puppy Doe” case here. For readers who don’t yet know, a dog was found on a roadside in Quincy, Massachusetts on August 31, barely alive. The female dog, estimated to be a little more than one year old, weighed about one-half of its normal weight, and was near death.

But when the dog was brought to the Animal Rescue League of Boston, that was nowhere near the horror that was to be discovered by veterinarians there. This poor animal had suffered multiple broken bones as well as multiple burns to her nose and stab wounds to her eye. The barbaric animals who did this to this innocent creature, didn’t stop there. It appears they actually cut her tongue, in a sadism-filled, barbaric attempt to create a serpent or snake-like split in her tongue. When they were “done” with his poor animal, they dumped her on the side of a road. Ultimately, the dog could not be saved due to this torture, and had to be euthanized.

After this story broke, people from across the United States began thinking of ways that they could help in efforts to locate these sick beings who committed this heinous act of pure sadism. The Animal Rescue League of Boston received 500 calls as of Saturday (September 21) from callers wanting to know how they could help in the search for the criminals who did this to this innocent animal. In response, yesterday the Animal Rescue League posted a $5,000 reward for information in the case. I was just one of many people across the U.S. who have donated to this reward fund. I urge all my readers to do so, and anyone wishing to donate to the reward fund should visit: www.arlboston.kintera.org/puppydoe.

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