William D. Kickham
William D. Kickham
William D. Kickham
William D. Kickham
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The air has been filled with buzz the past few days over police and law enforcement’s interest in Aaron Hernandez, the New England Patriots Football player. Hernandez has become a person of interest in the investigation of the homicide of a Dorchester man, one 27 year-old Odin Lloyd, whose body was found last Monday about a mile from Hernandez’ home.

What I haven’t heard a lot about in all this buzz, is a little something called the “Presumption of innocence.” So far, police and investigators have searched Hernandez’ North Attleboro home (for about three hours yesterday, Sat. June 22 2013,) but no arrest has yet been made. The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office isn’t commenting; The Massachusetts State Police aren’t commenting; and the New England Patriots press office isn’t commenting. But from what I hear in public, a lot of people are commenting themselves, and a lot of them think they smell foul play here.

As a Boston Massachusetts criminal defense lawyer, I think these judgments are premature. Maybe Hernandez is implicated in this homicide. Maybe he wasn’t involved at all. Maybe his involvement was incidental, and he’s just too scared to talk. The point is, that those of us who aren’t directly involved in this homicide investigation, don’t know for sure what facts are or are not developing here,

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In case you haven’t heard, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB,) recently issued a recommendation that all 50 states, including Massachusetts, adopt a uniform, lowered blood alcohol content (BAC) standard to determine when someone is legally impaired (drunk/intoxicated) while driving.

Currently, the Massachusetts BAC standard that is used to determine whether or not a driver is legally drunk, is .08. This is also the standard used in most other states. This is called a “per se” standard, or per se law, because it means that anyone registering this amount of alcohol in their blood is legally presumed to be intoxicated. In other words, police and District Attorneys’ offices don’t have to legally argue, or prove, that key issue. If you take either a breathalyzer test or blood test and register a BAC of .08 or higher, Massachusetts law considers you drunk. Period.

The NTSB wants states to lower the legal intoxication limit from .08 to .05. Drunk driving laws in the U.S. are a matter of state law, not federal, so the NTSB has no power to force any state to enact its recommendations. Reducing the current.08 standard to .05 is almost cutting the current standard in half, so it’s aggressive, but its advocates say it is needed.

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Here’s a true story that might interest anyone who might consider committing the crime of shoplifting in Massachusetts. Perhaps the following story might make someone so inclined to think twice.

A few months ago, a man visited the Wrentham Village Premium Outlets, which houses a nice variety of high-end stores. He went into a jewelry store, and asked the sales clerk to show him a $13,000 diamond-studded watch. After the item was placed on the counter, the man grabbed the watch without paying for it and ran outside the store, to his car. As it happened, the Wrentham Outlets had just added new security cameras, and they were able to record the man’s motor vehicle license plate. It led to his arrest. Now, without a doubt, he needs a Wrentham, Mass. shoplifting lawyer.

Recently, according to a story in The Boston Globe, several malls in the Boston area have installed new security cameras in common areas, and in parking lots, in order to crack down on shoplifting and other crimes, including assault and battery. What does this mean? It means that if you attempt to shoplift at any of several Massachusetts malls or shopping centers, the odds are that you will be caught and face Massachusetts shoplifting charges.

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Some people just don’t get it. What I mean, is that some people just don’t seem to understand that rape is a crime. And not just a word to use – and misuse – in a song.

In another display of complete insensitivity – and stupidity – a rapper, who I will not advertise here, recently wrote a song that condones the crimes of sexual assault and rape. Here are the lyrics to his rape — er, I mean, rap – song. “Put molly all in her champagne, she ain’t even know it/ I took her home and I enjoyed that/ she ain’t even know it.” The words in this song are about placing a drug into a woman’s drink without her knowing it, rendering her unconscious, and then raping her. What an offensive song to listen to.

As a Boston, Massachusetts rape lawyer, I can tell you that no woman in her right mind would ever pay the mere 99 cents it costs to download this “music” (and I use that term loosely.) And by the same token, no man worth his scruples would do the same either. Lyrics like this insult us all. When are these ignorant rappers going to realize that people do not want to hear crimes glorified in music lyrics? Furthermore, when are rappers going to understand that rape is a serious crime? Even worse, when are recording studios and record companies going to wake up and STOP the glorification of this and ANY kind of violence in “music”?

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There are any number of reasons why people shoplift. However, in my experience, as a Boston Massachusetts shoplifting lawyer, one of the most interesting reasons has to do with people who feel that life has simply let them down. They have experienced sorrow and loss – say, the loss of a job, or a relationship — and want to “take something back” from a world that they feel has somehow done them wrong. In many cases, non-professional shoplifters are experiencing depression at the time that they commit the crime of Massachusetts shoplifting. The facts back this up. According to the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention, and I’m paraphrasing here, people who shoplift experience a “high” that typically alleviates their feelings of anger, boredom, depression, deprivation and frustration. When most people shoplift, it’s not because they are broke and don’t have the money to pay for the item – it’s usually because the act of shoplifting, and the “high” it produces, is experienced as a lift, or a reward, that they feel they are entitled to, or need.

The NASP has also found the following statistics:

• Annually, there are in excess of $13 billion worth of goods stolen from retail establishments. That amounts to, per day, more than $35 million in shoplifted goods.

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Most everyone in Massachusetts knows that voters here voted to decriminalize the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana effective January 2009, and also voted just last November 2012 to legalize the use of medical marijuana. As a Boston, Massachusetts drug offenses lawyer, I think these are rational, sound decisions. But how do they impact OUI/DUI arrests and prosecutions in Massachusetts?

The legal answer to that question can sometimes be murky. Incorporating existing OUI/DUI laws in Massachusetts into the new regulatory structure that is being created by state public health officials to accompany the arrival of medical marijuana facilities, is proving to be somewhat of a challenge. One particular legal question will be this: How will or how should existing Massachusetts drugged driving and OUI laws be applied, if at all, to a motor vehicle operator who is a legitimate medical marijuana patient?

Currently, Massachusetts law provides for substantial criminal penalties for someone operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of not only alcohol – but a variety of different drugs, including narcotics, stimulants, or depressants. The main difference between alcohol and other drugs, is that while alcohol is metabolized by the body fairly quickly, many different types of other drugs remain chemically detectable for much longer than alcohol. Thus, a person could hypothetically use medical marijuana one evening, and the next afternoon or evening, if he or she were stopped by police under suspicion of operating a motor vehicle while drugged and their blood was tested, it would likely test positive for the drug. This could be so even though the person was not actually under the influence at the time they were stopped by police.

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Now that this entire, sad affair that has taken four lives and horribly injured several more is over – at least on the investigatory and law enforcement level – though the legal one just begins – I thought some thoughts from a Boston criminal lawyer are in order here.

No, you’re not going to hear “You don’t know this suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is guilty until he’s been found guilty beyond any reasonable doubt in a court of law.” It seems quite obvious that this kid is eyeball deep in this horrible story, and his guilt seems all but a foregone conclusion. (Unless a legal technicality is available to prevent same.) No, what I want to address here, is everyone’s quite rational and normal desire for justice at the end of this story.

Everywhere around me, particularly on social media such as Facebook, Twitter and such, I keep seeing and hearing demands for the death penalty in this case. On a pedestrian level, it’s understandable why so many people want this: This was a premeditated, heinous, sadistic act of violence, which killed three people immediately, a fourth later, and maimed several more. It turned what has for decades been an enjoyable event that heralded spring for all, into a nightmare that heralded only more insecurity and grief for many. The individuals and the families affected by these sickening events, will never be the same. All wrought by two disaffected, maladjusted, twisted individuals, who probably wanted to feel “important.”

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As a Boston, Massachusetts drug crimes lawyer, I believe quite strongly that the Massachusetts court system, and our Massachusetts law enforcement operations, waste their time and resources when it comes to making arrests over the possession of marijuana. In my professional opinion, marijuana is a harmless drug that’s non-addictive – and yet, the court system, and law enforcement, continue to pursue Massachusetts marijuana drug arrests, a “Class D” substance, as though it were a “Class A” substance such as heroin or morphine, or a “Class B” substance such as cocaine, LSD, PCP, or Ecstasy.

In the latest example of this, consider this following story from FOX25 in Boston.

This past Friday, April 12, in Everett, Mass., a 28-year-old Arizona man was arrested after police discovered more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana inside his rented truck. Police offers charged Mr. Luis Barrios, of Tuscon, Arizona, with Massachusetts marijuana trafficking, as well as the crime of operating a motor vehicle without authority. According to police reports, after being stopped, Mr. Barrios showed difficulty in locating his motor vehicle registration, as well as the signed rental agreement for the Ryder truck he was sitting in, and driving. A K-9 team was also used to determine the presence of drugs in the Ryder truck. Mr. Barrios will be arraigned next week, and will undoubtedly, require the services of a Boston marijuana arrest lawyer.

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Despite the fact that public possession or use of less than an ounce of marijuana in Massachusetts was decriminalized by voters in 2008, police departments and District Attorneys’ offices around the state have still seemed intent on prosecuting people any way they can for the private, recreational use of small amounts of pot. This has not only been a direct affront to the public’s clearly stated will on this subject, it has involved a colossal waste of public resources.

Why do they continue to do this? Credible scientific study after study has made it clear that recreational marijuana use is not only not harmful in any malignant or serious sense of the word, but that chemically speaking, cannabis is not an addictive drug. Can people grow to enjoy it, or like it? Yes. Can some people become emotionally dependent on it? Depending on their personality, yes. But before any doubters latch on to those two answers with “Aha! You see – We told you so!”, remember this: People can grow to enjoy or like a lot of behaviors and substances in life. That doesn’t make those things addictive. As well, people can grow emotionally dependent on a lot of behaviors and substances – including music and comfort food. That doesn’t make those things addictive. Care to know three of the most chemically addictive drugs known to mankind – of the tens of thousands out there? Nicotine, caffeine, and alcohol. Yet all three are legal across this country . Regulated (as they should be,) but legal.

Yet, we spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars prosecuting the use of cannabis. And, when the addiction argument on pot is proven wrong, opponents advance the “gateway drug” argument. This approach claims that, while cannabis itself may not be addictive, it leads to the use of other drugs (such as cocaine and heroin,) which are without question addictive. This is like saying that if you begin eating hot dogs, you will one day wind up abusing food to the extent that you’re 400 pounds and morbidly obese. People who abuse cocaine, narcotics and drugs like crack and heroin, do so because of deeply seated personality, biochemical and neurochemical problems – not because they smoked pot at one point.

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This post isn’t titled “Mr. Kickham’s Best-Dressed list,” but here goes anyway: I’m sure you have all seen the images, out on public streets, and in social media. What am I talking about? Young men, wearing their pants so low that their underwear is completely exposed, their belt is to their knees, and they wind up stepping on their pants legs, which are bunched down at their shoes. It drives me bonkers.

This style of dressing is anything but dignified, anything but admirable, anything but mature, and anything but flattering. It inspires descriptions of “moron”, “loser,” “idiot,” “uneducated,” and “unsophisticated.” It’s pathetic and laughable. So, as a Boston, Massachusetts sex offenses lawyer, I am constantly shocked when I see young men appearing in a court of law dressed the same way. I don’t allow it with my younger clients. I require my clients to dress respectably and as adults when they are in court. Period. By no means do the clothes need to be expensive; by no means do they need to be “fashion-forward” – at all. But I will not allow my clients to appear by my side in front of a judge, looking like they are wearing pajamas. and most of them do. What I’m discussing here are the many clueless other young male defendants that I see in courthouses all over eastern Massachusetts.

“What are these kids thinking?,” I constantly ask myself. Do they really think that they are putting their best foot forward? Don’t they realize that they are essentially putting a “bad cover” on what judges and juries may interpret as a “bad book? Each of them looks like an idiot, like a complete malcontent. Worse, I ask myself what their lawyers are thinking, in allowing their clients to appear in court like this. Dressing that way is tantamount to wearing a sign that says, “I’m screwed up; I don’t know how to conduct myself or present myself appropriately; I don’t respect authority, and I don’t respect this court.” They may as well display an obscene gesture to the judge. Yet, stunningly to me, even though I see the frowns on some judge’s facial expressions when these defendants come before them, too few say anything. The reason? They’re just too busy trying to get the business of a crowded court docket, completed. On any given day, most District Courts in Massachusetts are packed full of criminal cases and criminal defendants, together with civil cases, and most judges just want to move things along as efficiently as possible.

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