Your Shield Against Criminal Prosecution
In Massachusetts, it is a crime to lie to or mislead a police officer, or otherwise impede a criminal investigation. Under the Intimidation of a Witness statute, the Massachusetts legislature criminalized conduct where a person willfully misled or lied to a person furthering a criminal investigation with the intent to impede or obstruct justice. In one recent case, Commonwealth v.…
Those convicted of any crime in Massachusetts should always consider challenging their conviction by filing an appeal. One way to litigate a Massachusetts Appeal is asking the trial judge to consider a Motion for New Trial based on undisclosed evidence by the prosecution. In order to secure a new trial on the basis of undisclosed evidence, a defendant must be…
In the recent case of Commonwealth v. Romero, the Massachusetts Appeals Court issued a split-decision where the defendant, charged with Massachusetts Gun Crimes, challenged his conviction based on insufficient evidence for “constructive possession”. The defendant in the case was in the driver’s seat of a parked car – he was the owner and operator in the car – along with…
In the recent case of Commonwealth v. Robert McGillivary, the Massachusetts Supreme Court addressed the legal issue as to whether an intoxicated driver, who only puts the key in the vehicle’s ignition without turning the car on, can be found guilty of Drunk Driving in Massachusetts. By way of background, Robert McGillivary was convicted after trial of Operating Under the…
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently decided and rejected Christopher McCowen’s appeal of his conviction for the Murder of Christa Worthington in 2002. In a unanimous decision, Massachusetts’ highest court unanimously ruled that the defendant’s appeal was without merit and found “no basis on which to reduce the degree of guilt or order a new trial.” Christopher McCowen, of Hyannis,…
In an opinion released this morning, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court today reversed the First Degree Murder conviction against Jerome McNulty, who in 2001, had been convicted of the murder of Linda Correia, 27, in her Salem bedroom. In its decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that McNulty’s right to be informed by the Salem Police Department of his…
Lawyers for John Odgren appealed to Middlesex Superior Court Judge S. Jane Haggerty earlier this week, appealing that his sentence be reduced from First Degree Murder to Second Degree Murder. Convicted of First Degree Murder for killing 15 year-old classmate James Alenson at Lincoln-Sudbury High School in 2007, Odgren was sentenced to serve a mandatory life sentence in state prison,…
Sheila Barry, of Brockton, Massachusetts, was convicted in 2006 in Plymouth Superior Court for the Murder of Admilson Goncalves. Today, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reversed her conviction, citing she was mentally ill when she committed the assault. At her Murder trial, Plymouth County prosecutors alleged that Barry attacked Goncalves with a cinder block as he sat in his bicycle…
After 7 years, Jesus Silva Santiago walked out of court a free man, a second jury acquitting him of Murder in connection with the shooting death of Eugene Monteiro, 25, of Boston, Massachusetts. The Murder allegations stemmed from an incident at Mike’s Lounge in Brockton. The Plymouth County District Attorney alleged that Santiago called the victim a racial slur as…
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court today reversed the conviction of Joann Silech-Brodeur, who was convicted of the Murder of her 70 year-old husband by stabbing him to death 34 times. At issue in Silech-Brodeur’s Criminal Appeal was whether, in establishing her Insanity Defense, the defense was obligated to give prosecutors copies of the detailed notes and statements Silech-Brodeur made to…