The Lawrence Eagle Tribune reports that two twenty-one year old men, Rodney McCray of Haverhill MA and Roberto Hilerio of Boston continue to be held without bail facing charges of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, assault and battery causing serious bodily injury, intimidation of a witness and disorderly conduct. The incident occurred over labor day weekend when Jesse Downs was allegedly attacked from behind on a street in Lawrence, MA. According to reports, Down’s girlfriend was coincidentally passing by the location and saw him speaking to police and emergency personnel. Downs was taken to the hospital where he has remained since the incident.
Defending assault and battery cases in Massachusetts requires an attorney that is thorough, skillful and has a knowledge of the law. Our Attorney routinely successfully defends individuals charged with assault and battery, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon and other assault type crimes. A critical aspect of any case is to begin witness interviews and investigations promptly before memories fade or potential witnesses disappear.
Depending on the circumstances of a case, defenses range from misidentification to self-defense to defense of another. If a strategy of misidentification is employed the factors that are stressed through cross-examination of the Commonwealth witnesses are the witnesses lack of opportunity to observe the perpetrator such as poor lighting conditions, a stressful situation and the fact that the alleged victim and or witnesses did not know the person identified as the culprit prior to this case. Furthermore, the factors surrounding any identification of the defendant as the perpetrator must be examined to determine and expose any type of suggestive identification by the police or other witnesses. For example, if a witness identified the defendant through a photo-array an experienced defense attorney should request a copy of the array to make sure that the defendant’s picture was not suspiciously different from all of the other photographs. Similarly, the attorney should determine what was said to any identifying witness prior to the photo array being shown to anyone. If the police made comments indicating that the perpetrator is in the photo book or looks like a particular picture that information must be exposed. Interviewing any witness that made an identification is very important when defending this types of cases.
Relative to self defense cases, witness interviews are again crucial. Once the defense has presented a legitimate claim of self-defense or defense of another then the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in self defense or in defense of another. This is in addition to the Commonwealth’s burden of proving the elements beyond a reasonable doubt.
Our Attorney has specialized in criminal law for over twenty-five years. She has the experience, knowledge and dedication necessary to defend any type of assault and battery case. Our Attorney is available twenty four hours a day seven days a week for a free phone consultation. If you or a loved one has been charged with a crime and want a top tier Massachusetts criminal defense lawyer on your side contact Our Attorney or on-line and she will get back to you immediately. Many clients have been arrested on the weekends or late in the evening or early morning hours, do not hesitate to contact Our Attorney at any hour of the day or night as someone is always available to get to work on your case right away.