The Brockton Enterprise reports that yesterday a seventy two year old Fall River man attempted to abduct a twenty seven year old woman. The woman was walking her dog in Braintree. The man pulled up and asked for help entering an address in his GPS device. As the woman tried to help him the defendant tried to pull her into the car. The woman screamed. The defendant drove off and was later apprehended by the police. The accused, Carlton Comstock has been charged with Attempt to Commit a Crime, Kidnapping and Assault and Battery. The case is pending in the Quincy District Court. Bail was set in the amount of five thousand dollars.
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The crime of Attempt to Commit a Crime in Massachusetts is established through Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 274 Section 6. The law states that anyone who does an act towards the commission of a crime and is unsuccessful in doing so is guilty of a crime. Whether or not the crime of Attempt to Commit a Crime is a felony or a misdemeanor depends on the crime that the perpetrator intended to commit. Here, the crime is Kidnapping. Kidnapping in Massachusetts is a felony, punishable by imprisonment for up to ten years. Accordingly, the crime Comstock is defending has a maximum penalty of five years. If the case is kept in the Quincy District Court then Comstock’s maximum exposure is two and one half years on jail. The Massachusetts case of Commonwealth v. Ware, 375 Mass. 118 (1978) made clear that the crime of Attempt to Kidnap requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant had the intention to cause the victim to be imprisoned or confined against her will.
I am interested in learning just how the district attorney intends to prosecute this case. On its face the charges appear quite serious. The attempted abduction of a woman walking her dog is horrifying. However, when deciding when and where to prosecute criminal cases district attorneys look not only at the severity of the crime but the age of the offender, his or her criminal record, the danger the accused presents to the community and whether punishment upon a conviction can be adequately imposed by a district court judge. In cases like this one Comstock’s lawyer might investigate his mental health history, if any. Locating witnesses who witnessed the offense will also be helpful particularly if their accounts do not match up to the woman’s story. Her criminal history might also be a factor in deciding how to defend or prosecute this case.
The Law Offices of Stephen Neyman is committed to defending the accused no matter how heinous the crime. We believe that everyone deserves the best defense possible. No case in impossible to defend. Call our office if you want to talk to one of our lawyers. You can reach us at 617-263-6800 or by email.