Withdrawing Guilty Pleas and Vacating Convictions Nearly thirty years ago, when I first started practicing law it was rare to have a client ask me to help him withdraw a guilty plea. Case law in that area had not been well developed. Access to criminal convictions was limited. Deportation, denial…
If you had any involvement in a crime or even any knowledge of the circumstances of certain criminal activity the police could contact you. If they question you they are doing so for a reason. Someone may have told them that you were involved or that you have pertinent information.…
The Alibi Defense And How It Works One of the best defenses to a criminal accusation is the alibi defense. This defense tells a jury or judge that you didn’t commit the crime with which you were for one very compelling reason…because you weren’t there. I have had countless clients…
What is a lobby conference? A very small percentage of criminal cases go to trial. Much of the pretrial criminal work is geared towards learning as much about the prosecution’s case as we can. Through the discovery process we understand the strengths and weaknesses of our own case as well.…
Most Massachusetts district courts hear criminal matters on a daily basis. There are many criminal cases however that never find their way into a courtroom. These cases get resolved before a clerk magistrate at what in known as a criminal clerk’s hearing. This is a proceeding to determine whether a…
Most criminal cases in Massachusetts are resolved without the need to go to trial. Cases get dismissed, evidence gets suppressed, people get pretrial probation and some people plead guilty to their criminal charges. The majority of cases resolved in the Massachusetts district courts are continued without a finding. In essence…
One of the toughest decisions defendants in criminal cases have to make is whether or not to go to trial on their case. Some people have no choice. They have been charged with a crime where there is a minimum mandatory sentence as with drug trafficking cases and the district…
It is the right of the district attorney and the defendant to call witnesses to testify at trial. Most people dread the process. They don’t want to get up before a jury, take an oath and testify against someone. Others don’t want the inconvenience of sitting around a courthouse for…
This past Saturday night in Hingham, Massachusetts the police broke up a house party. While doing so they arrested sixteen minors and one adult. The minors face charges of Minor in Possession of Alcohol and Disturbing the Peace. The homeowner is also being charged with a crime; Violating the Massachusetts…
Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 276 Section 100C provides for Sealing Criminal Records in Massachusetts. The law states that anyone who has been acquitted by a judge or a jury or charged with a crime that was no billed by a grand jury or no probable cause was found by a…