Articles Posted in Drug Crimes

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Earlier today the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued its opinion in Commonwealth v. Carr.pdf affirming the trial judge’s suppression of evidence seized unlawfully. The facts of the case are as follows. On Valentine’s Day, 2007 a Boston College police sergeant received a call from a residential director (RD) of a dormitory who had information from students that a dorm resident possibly possessed a weapon. The RD brought the students to the campus police. The students stated that the defendant had been bullying students and bragged about having a knife. An anonymous student reported seeing the butt of a gun in the defendant’s room. The student stated that the gun might have been a toy. Armed with this information campus police went to the defendant’s room. They knocked on the door and identified themselves. About a half minute later the door was opened. There were three men in the room. An individual who denied living in the room was asked to leave. The officer then inquired about the gun. One of the defendants admitted to previously having a fake gun and throwing it away. He was then read his rights and asked where the gun was. He replied that it was under the bed. There, the officers found a replica gun. With further prompting and prodding from the police the other defendant produced a knife. Officers found another knife and a martial arts weapon also. The police then asked the defendants to sign a Miranda waiver form and a consent to search form. Both signed the former. Neither signed the latter. The officers then conducted a search and found drugs and drug related paraphernalia. The trial judge allowed the defendants’ Motion to Suppress. The Appeals Court reversed. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the trial judge’s rulings holding as follows:

The district attorney never established that the defendants consented to the search. One of the officers testifying agreed to that during cross-examination. He backtracked on re-direct by testifying that the defendants gave verbal consent to search. The judge found this to effect his credibility. The evidence as to consent was equivocal in the judge’s opinion and not sufficient to sustain the search. The trial judge also held that even if the defendants had consented the consent was not made voluntarily. She found that the campus police actions of immediately demanding the defendant’s identities, ordering the person who did not live in the room to leave, blocking the doorway, showing distrust for the defendants and ordering rather than requesting to search undercut the voluntariness requirement of consent.

This case is another example of what can happen when you hire an experienced lawyer. The lawyers in this case did a fantastic job for the defendants. They were able to show the trial judge that the defendants’ constitutional rights were violated.

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Around 7:00 p.m. last Thursday night Lynn, Massachusetts Police responded to a call reporting shots on Landers Street. The officers were directed to a man who was bleeding from his shoulder and had apparently been shot. While investigating the incident the officers noticed bullet holes at 7 Lander Street. The officers went into the home to look for shooting victims. No one was home. The officers continued to search the home. They opened a closet and a metal box inside the closet. Inside they found ammunition. Police then applied for and obtained a search warrant. They returned and found Sereca Prom at the residence. They continued their search and found several bags of marijuana. Prom supposedly confessed that the marijuana was hers. She has been charged with Possession of Ammunition and Possession of Marijuana. The case is being prosecuted in the Lynn District Court.

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Lynn, Massachusetts Marijuana Possession Defense Lawyer, Ammunition Possession Defense Lawyer

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Once again, the strength of the district attorney’s case here hinges on the legality of the initial search. While typically there is a requirement that no search be conducted without a Search Warrant, there are exceptions. Potentially applicable to this case is the “exigent circumstances” exception. Police are permitted in certain situations to bypass the search warrant requirement where they need certain flexibility to the events at the scene of a crime. Here, the prosecution will argue that the officers were permitted to enter Prom’s home to attend to possible shooting victims. The defense will likely argue that once they found no victim they had a duty to leave the home. The subsequent search violated Prom’s rights requiring suppression of the ammunition seized. Additionally, the Search Warrant was obtained on the basis of unlawfully found evidence. The defendant will argue that the Search Warrant therefore should not have issued and that the subsequent search of Prom’s home should be suppressed.

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This past Saturday a Massachusetts State Trooper pulled a car over for speeding shortly after 4:00 in the afternoon. Smelling what appeared to be an abundance of air fresheners the officer became suspicious. The two occupants of the vehicle then gave the officer a story that did not check out. A canine unit was called. The dog alerted officers to the dashboard and the passenger side airbag. Officers then forcibly opened the dashboard. They found cocaine and over thirty three thousand dollars cash. The weight of the cocaine was approximated at one half kilogram, over two hundred grams. The occupants, Joel Alicea of Lawrence, Massachusetts and Alejandro Nunez Perez of Methuen, Massachusetts were arrested and charged with Conspiracy, Trafficking Cocaine, and other Massachusetts Drug Crimes.

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http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x1507938287/Too-many-air-fresheners-tip-police-to-drugs

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This case presents some interesting Massachusetts Search and Seizure issues. Massachusetts Courts have held that investigative detentions must be no longer than are necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop. Thus, in this case most Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyers will ask what permitted the officers to detain the defendants longer than necessary to issue the speeding ticket. I imagine that it was more than a few minutes from the time the car was pulled over until the canine unit arrived. On several occasions Massachusetts courts have held that detentions of this length were unconstitutional. The next issue that strikes me is what links these defendants to the drugs. Apparently the vehicle belonged to someone else. The drugs and money were concealed. How then are these defendants responsible for Trafficking and Conspiracy.

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This past Thursday Stoughton, Massachusetts police detectives received a tip. They learned, probably through an informant that a package containing Oxycodone was going to delivered by mail to someone in Stoughton. An undercover detective pretending to be a postal worker contacted the recipient and arranged to meet with her. A short time later detectives met with Jessica Prato and Chad Graham, both of Miami, Florida. Both were arrested and charged with Trafficking Oxycodone. Police seized the package. It contained nearly one hundred thousand dollars worth of Oxycodone pills.

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http://www.enterprisenews.com/news/cops_and_courts/x370074324/Stoughton-police-make-major-oxycodone-bust

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Massachusetts Oxycodone, Oxycontin Trafficking Defense Lawyer

There is a lot about this case that interests me as a Massachusetts Drug Trafficking Defense Lawyer. First, what if anything did the defendants say when they met with the undercover officer. If Prato simply took possession of the package without more then there is no indication that she knew what the package contained. In that case the district attorney will have a difficult time showing criminal intent. Second, how is Graham implicated in criminal activity. If he simply accompanied Prato when she met with the undercover officer the prosecution will have difficulty showing criminal responsibility on his part. Third, what were Prato and Graham doing in Massachusetts. Did they own property here. What is the nature of the address where the package was being sent. What is their connection to that address. Fourth, what information did the informant present to the officers. Will it survive a constitutional challenge from a Motion to Suppress.

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Robert Rosado has been out on a fifty thousand dollar cash bail since 2009 for charges of Possession of Marijuana, Cocaine Trafficking, Resisting Arrest and Assault and Battery on a Police Officer. Last week a Massachusetts State Police Officer pulled Rosado over on Route 24 for “excessively tinted windows”. Upon making contact with Rosado the officer smelled marijuana. That made him suspicious as did the fact that Rosado was wearing boxer shorts depicting a marijuana leaf. The officer also claims to have seen unspecified drug paraphernalia. Compounding matters was the fact that this officer had arrested Rosado in the past. The offIcer called for backup. A drug sniffing dog signaled the canine officer and in a concealed box officers found seventy eight grams of cocaine and ten thousand dollars cash. Rosado has been charged with Trafficking Cocaine in Excess of 28 Grams. The case is pending in the Taunton District Court. The case will ultimately be tried in the Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River.

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http://www.enterprisenews.com/news/cops_and_courts/x1673647684/Boxers-lead-to-cocaine-arrest-in-Taunton

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Bristol County Drug Trafficking Lawyer, Cocaine and Marijuana Charges

This case raises some interesting Fourth Amendment issues. Tinted window, while arguably sufficient to justify a traffic stop does permit the police to do more. Nor for that matter does the odor of marijuana allow the police to continue their search of the vehicle. This is particularly true now since the decriminalization of possessing less than one ounce of marijuana came into effect. Obviously the officer did not believe that Rosado was operating under the influence of marijuana. Had believed that he undoubtedly would have charged Rosado with that crime. This raises another interesting question. If it is not a criminal offense to possess limited quantities of marijuana is it a crime to possess materials, i.e. “drug paraphernalia” to smoke the substance. It seems to me that Rosado’s Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer has plenty of ammunition to fight the stop through a Motion to Suppress.

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Dwayne Day of Braintree and his brother Michael Day of Boston, have been charged in the Quincy, Massachusetts District Court with Drug Conspiracy, School Zone Violation, Trafficking Cocaine, a Class B Substance, Possession of Ammunition and Gun Possession. According to reports, police in Braintree, Massachusetts had been conducting an extensive drug investigation in the area of McCusker Drive. This past Wednesday a Braintree Police detective observed the Day brothers in a car in a parking lot of an apartment complex. Once the Days noticed the detective they fled the area. Another officer stopped the car claiming it had “failed to signal”, a civil Motor Vehicle Violation. The Days were detained until a patrol officer with a drug sniffing dog was summonsed to the scene. The dog alerted the officers to drugs in the car’s center console where over fourteen grams of cocaine were found. Officers then applied for and obtained a search warrant for one of the brother’s homes on McCusker Drive. Inside the home the police found more cocaine and two guns. Bail has been set of fifteen thousand dollars cash.

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http://www.patriotledger.com/news/cops_and_courts/x171129091/Braintree-bust-nets-two-on-drug-and-gun-charges

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Braintree, Massachusetts Drug Defense Lawyer, Norfolk County Cocaine Trafficking Defense Lawyer

Once again, as with many drug cases the legality of the Search and Seizure becomes critical to the Day brothers’ defenses. While the officers can justify their stop of Day if in fact he did fail to signal they cannot justify holding them longer than is necessary to issue a citation. Massachusetts Courts have held that an investigative detention must be temporary and must last no longer than necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop. The continued detention of a motor vehicle operator and passenger after the operator had satisfied the purpose of the stop for speeding by producing his license and registration was ruled unlawful by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Similarly, a forty-minute detention of defendant’s vehicle by six troopers who blocked the front and back of the vehicle with their cruisers was inconsistent with an investigative stop and constituted an arrest. In this case, it is unclear why the police called for the drug sniffing dog and why the Day brothers were held longer than was necessary to issue the ticket. No doubt the Day’s lawyers will file a Motion to Suppress. If successful the case would likely be dismissed.

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Quincy, Massachusetts residents noticed what they believed to be drug activity in their neighborhood. It was their belief that a man was selling drugs out of his minivan. In response Quincy Drug Detectives were notified. The police then watched the neighborhood. When they saw what appeared to be drug deals involving the minivan officers stopped two suspected “buyers”. Both were found in Possession of Heroin both admitted to purchasing the heroin from Jose Soto, the driver of the minivan. Soto, who is from Everett, Massachusetts was then arrested and charged with Distribution of Heroin, Conspiracy to Violate the Drug Laws and a School Zone Violation. The buyers will be charged with Possession of Heroin. The cases will be prosecuted in the Quincy District Court.

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http://www.patriotledger.com/news/cops_and_courts/x1314921704/Police-bust-alleged-Everett-Quincy-heroin-connection

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Everett, Massachusetts Drug Crimes Defense Lawyer

Every year our office defends countless people in Soto’s shoes. Assuming the evidence is no more than reported the district attorney’s will have a difficult time prosecuting the case against Soto. Here is why. The “buyers” were not working for or with the police. Presumably they are heroin users purchasing enough of the drug to get high and satisfy their urges. Their use and possession of the drug constitutes a crime. Whether they get charged or not they will be represented by lawyers who in all likelihood will recommend that they not testify for the police. Doing so compromises their cases. Thus, as to Soto the police will be left only with their observations which will not be sufficient to sustain their prosecution and secure a conviction. My guess is that the case against Soto will be dismissed at some point.

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This past weekend, members of a local Drug Task Force made arrests and charged two teens and their friend with various Drug Crimes. Krista Connolly, 18 of Bridgewater is facing a Drug Conspiracy charge. Ryan McHugh 22 of East Bridgewater has been charged with Trafficking Over 14 Grams of Percocet, a Class B Substance, Distribution of Percocet and Conspiracy and William Cobbett, 19 of Bridgewater has been charged with Trafficking Class B and Conspiracy. After a month long investigation detectives executed a search warrant at McHugh’s home on Washington Street. Cobbett was stopped when he arrived by car at McHugh’s home. About one hundred fifty Percocet pills were found in his car. In total the police seized around two hundred Percocet tablets. Right now the cases are being prosecuted in the Brockton District Court. The prosecution can indict the defendants on these charges and prosecute the cases in the Plymouth County Superior Court.

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http://www.enterprisenews.com/news/cops_and_courts/x187208159/Three-face-drug-charges-after-Percocet-bust-in-East-Bridgewater

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Bridgewater, Massachusetts Drug Trafficking Lawyer

The case against Connolly appears to be the weakest from a prosecution perspective. Her involvement is not detailed in this article. If she was simply in Cobbett’s car without any active involvement in the drug possession or trafficking activities the case against her, if properly defended by an Experienced Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer might get dismissed. The case against McHugh depends on several factors. Who else lived in his home, where the pills were found, what evidence if any links McHugh to the pills and of course the legality of the Massachusetts Search Warrant. Cobbett too might avail himself of certain defenses depending on where the drugs in his car were located and what grounds the detectives had for stopping him and searching his car.

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Danvers, Massachusetts Police officer Graig Lebrun was on a routine patrol when he decided to run the plates on a 1996 Mitsubishi. The plates were reported stolen and the car was pulled over. It was also determined that the car owner had outstanding arrest warrants. Just before pulling the car over Lebrun saw the driver make movements and lean over as if he were trying to hide something. He then arrested the driver, Robert Kaufman of Lynn, Massachusetts. In Kaufman’s possession the police found over nine grams of crack cocaine. Kaufman has been charged with Possession With Intent to Distribute Cocaine and a School Zone Violation. The cocaine was packaged in twenty eight bags. The case is being prosecuted in the Salem District Court.

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http://www.salemnews.com/local/x535473515/Driver-charged-with-crack-crimes

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Salem, Massachusetts Criminal Lawyers, Possession With Intent, Cocaine

People who follow this blog know that cases like this one hinge on the strengths and weaknesses of the stop, Search and Seizure. If the police lacked probable cause to make the stop the case against Kaufman will be dismissed. This case presents some interesting facts. The report of “stolen plates” is somewhat suspect in that the plates belonged to the car Kaufman was driving. Getting copies of the turret tape is a way to check that the officer had the information he claims he had when he went after Kaufman. The warrants provide a stronger basis for the stop. However the timing of the officer’s knowledge of that information will play a critical role in this case. If he learned about this only after an unconstitutional stop then the events might warrant dismissal. His report coupled with the dispatch (turret) tapes will help determine the legality of the police officer’s actions.

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Police in Marlborough, Massachusetts were conducting an investigation that led them to an apartment on Main Street. The investigation resulted in the application for and issuance of a Search Warrant at that apartment. Last Thursday night the Search Warrant was executed. Officers found a twenty two caliber handgun, loaded. They also found some Drug Paraphernalia such as scales and packaging agents. The apartment was rented to Evan Higgins who was not home at the time the search warrant was executed. Higgins was not home when the Search Warrant was executed. The police however located him later that night. Higgins was arrested. In his car the police found another handgun and a Class B drug. He has been charged with Carrying a Firearm, Possession of a Firearm, Possession With the Intent to Distribute Class B and a School Zone Violation.

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http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/police_and_fire/x1177408402/Police-arrest-Marlborough-man-on-gun-and-drug-charges

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Marlborough, Massachusetts Drug Crimes Defense Lawyer

As a Massachusetts Criminal Defense Attorney who handles Drug Cases on a daily basis I would like to know what in fact the police investigation showed prior to their applying for a Search Warrant. On several occasions in the past I have blogged on the requirements for obtaining a Search Warrant in Massachusetts and the attacks that can be made on the constitutionality of the search. I have also blogged on various defenses that can be raised in the event the Search is upheld as constitutional. In this case, I would also like to know who if anyone Higgins lived with, the configuration of the dwelling, the presence or absence of clothing belonging to someone other than Higgins and the neighbors’ observations regarding the tenant of that apartment. Simply finding drugs or guns in someone’s home does not mean that the person targeted by the police was responsible for the contraband.

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