Articles Posted in Violent Crimes

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Robert Demaio is twenty nine years old and homeless. He admittedly has problems with alcohol and anger management. Last Friday Demaio beat up another man in a Beverly, Massachusetts park causing him to suffer sever brain damage. The victim is a fifty one year old Lynn, Massachusetts man who authorities say is likely to die from the injuries he suffered in the beating. Demaio has been charged with assault and battery causing serious bodily injury. The criminal case is currently pending in the Salem District Court. Bail has been set in the amount of $100,000. When the police encountered Demaio they observed his hand to be swollen, consistent with having punched someone.

Assault And Battery Charges Filed Against Homeless Man Who Beat 51 Year Old

Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265 Section 13A makes assault and battery a crime in Massachusetts. The law states that anyone who commits this crime and causes serious bodily injury while doing so is guilty of aggravated assault and battery. A conviction of this offense can result in up to five years in state prison. However, if the victim dies from the injuries Demaio is likely to face more serious charges such as manslaughter or even murder. If the injuries to the victim are as serious as reported I would not be surprised to see this case indicted to the Superior Court in Essex County. Given that Demaio has a history of violence a superior court prosecution is a likely scenario.

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At about 10:30 p.m. police officers in Massachusetts saw what they believed was someone drinking beer in a car in Brockton. The car was pulled over and the driver then took off, speeding all the way to Quincy. The suspect’s car hit a tree near a garage and the driver and one of three passengers were arrested. The driver, Joseph Cooper was charged with operating to endanger, assault with a dangerous weapon and attempted murder. It is alleged that he tried to ram a police cruiser head on. The driver was also operating with a suspended license. One of the passengers was charged with resisting arrest. The other two escaped on foot.

Boston Massachusetts Men Charged With Crimes After Chase

Here is an interesting question. What if anything are the two men who escaped criminally responsibly for? Unless one or both of them were drinking the beer the answer is probably nothing. There is no legal way to charge them with any criminal activity given the facts of this article. While the prosecution typically charges people who accompany the principles as joint venturers there is nothing here suggestive of criminal behavior on their parts. So why did they run? Well, perhaps they had outstanding warrants. Maybe they did not want to get charged with “resisting arrest” as did the passenger. Here is another point. Why was the passenger being arrested? It is difficult to hold any passenger accountable for the conduct of a driver absent some evidence that he or she shared the same criminal intent, desired the same result and stood ready, willing and able to assist in the crime.

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In 2004 around 6:00 p.m. Malden, Massachusetts police responded to a call for a woman bleeding. Officers arrived to find the victim in her bed and suffering from facial injuries. It was clear to police that the home had been broken into through a rear door. The man who broke in assaulted and beat the elderly victim who was taken to the hospital. This past Saturday, as a result of a DNA match, Jason Kuzcynski was arrested and charged with home invasion and assault and battery on a person over the age of sixty five. Kuzcynski is being held without bail pending a hearing on dangerousness.

Massachusetts Man Charged With 2004 Home Invasion

Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265 Section 18C defines the crime of home invasion in Massachusetts. The law states that anyone who is armed and enters the home of another person knowing or having reason to know that someone is home and uses force on that person is guilty of home invasion. There is a minimum state prison sentence of twenty years for anyone convicted of this crime. The crime of assault and battery on a person sixty or older carries a ten year state prison sentence. With an elderly victim it is likely that the district attorney in this case will not agree to a plea bargain that falls below the twenty year mandatory sentence.

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Seventeen year old Bridgewater, Massachusetts resident Trevor McGarry was at his home the other day when another teenager with whom he had been in conflict went to his house to “fight with him”. According to reports the victim went to McGarry’s house after an earlier altercation with the specific purpose of fighting McGarry. In the course of the fight McGarry ended up stabbing the other individual in the back with a folding knife. The victim removed the knife from his back himself and returned to his home. His parents called the police later that evening. McGarry was arrested and charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon.

Massachusetts Teenager Charged With Assault And Battery Dangerous Weapon

Assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon in Massachusetts is a crime pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265 Section 15A. This crime can be prosecuted in either the district court or the superior court. Given the circumstances of this case I would imagine that the district attorney will prosecute this case in the district court. If that is the case then the maximum sentence that can be imposed is two and one half years in the house of correction.

I would not be surprised if this case is defended on self-defense grounds. In Massachusetts once evidence of self defense is introduced the prosecutor must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in self-defense. You can defend yourself with a dangerous weapon if you have a reasonable ground to believe, that you are in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury from which you can save yourself only by using deadly force. Where as in this case someone goes to your house with the intent to fight you this defense might be viable. Everyone should feel secure in his home.

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Shortly after 2:00 p.m. yesterday a woman walking down a Boston, Massachusetts street was confronted by a man and a woman who asked for a cigarette. The two, later identified as Marie O’Neill and Thomas Slavin then began punching the woman repeatedly. The man then brandished a baseball bat and threatened to hit her with it. While doing so the couple took her pocketbook and fled. The victim chased the assailants and eventually caught up to O’Neill. Slavin took off in a black pick-up truck. A witness captured the license plates with a cell phone camera and police apprehended Slavin shortly thereafter. Inside the pick-up truck the police found the woman’s pocketbook, crack cocaine and marijuana. Both have been charged with armed robbery and possession of cocaine and marijuana.

Massachusetts Man And Woman Arrested, Charged With Robbery, Drug Possession

The most serious charge here is armed robbery. This is a felony in Massachusetts. It is punishable by up to life in prison. This crime is prosecuted in the Superior Court. The Massachusetts statute prohibiting armed robbery is Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265 Section 17. Oftentimes armed robbery cases are reduced to larceny from the person and are prosecuted in the district court. The decision to reduce such charges rests exclusively with the district attorney and depends on the circumstances of the act and the defendant’s criminal record.

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Boston, Massachusetts police officers were just doing their job. They saw occupants of two cars engaged in a verbal dispute. The officers went over to settle the parties down. As they did one of four people riding in a Honda pulled out a firearm and shot at the officers. One officer fired back hitting the car. Other officer went into the car to apprehend the suspect. That man, John Mentor, now stands charged with assault with intent to murder. The defendant’s lawyer claimed that the officers fired several shots, a claim that has been denied by the Boston Police Department. The case is currently in the West Roxbury District Court pending indictment. Bail has been set at $500,000.

Man Charged With After Trying To Shoot Boston Police Officer

There is virtually no chance that this case will remain in the district court even though both the district court and the superior court have jurisdiction over these charges. Prosecutors view gun cases, particularly those where the weapon is discharged as extremely serious. Shooting at police officers compounds matters for this defendant. I will bet that the district attorney’s office will recommend at least a ten year state prison sentence for this defendant. If a judge agrees that that length sentence is warranted the defendant will either have to take the offer or try the case. It appears that defense counsel in this case has suggested that self-defense might be raised. Ballistics evidence at the crime scene and an examination of the police officers’ firearms will partially determine the viability of that defense.

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A thirty three year Salem, Massachusetts man was beaten so badly outside of a Gloucester bar that he had to undergo ten hours of surgery. He suffered severe head trauma and has lost hearing in his right ear and he cannot see out of his right eye. The defendants are Jonathan and William Chadwick. Reports claim that this is a hate crime and that the victim is a gay man. Both defendants have been charged with aggravated assault and battery and assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon. The case is now pending in the Gloucester District Court.

Two Men Charged In Gay Bashing Incident

Aggravated assault and battery is a crime under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265 Section 13A. As applicably to this case, the law states that anyone who commits an assault and battery causing serious bodily injury is guilty of a felony, punishable by up to five years on prison. The assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon charge is punishable by up to ten years in prison.

The district attorney will have the discretion as to whether these cases are prosecuted in the district court or the superior court. Given the extent of the victim’s injuries and the reported motive of the defendants I am quite certain that these cases will be presented to a grand jury and indicted to the superior court. Unless the defendants go to trial and win their cases they will likely serve some state prison time.

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Clayton Dawson had an argument with another University of Massachusetts Lowell student. The argument escalated. According to witnesses, Dawson then tried to kill his fellow student by running him over with his car. He then tried to choke him. The victim ended up at a local hospital, was treated and released. Dawson has been charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, aggravated assaulted and battery and attempted murder. The case is pending in the Lowell District Court.

See Article: College Student Charged With Attempted Murder After Trying To Run Another Student Over With His Car

Attempted murder is a crime pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265 Section 16. The law states that anyone who tries to murder someone else and is convicted can be sentenced for up to twenty years in state prison. The law requires the district attorney to prove that the defendant committed the act by poisoning, drowning or strangling, or by any means not constituting assault with the intent to murder. Here, it appears that the prosecution contends that when Dawson was choking his victim he intended to kill him by strangulation. This is extremely difficult to prove. My guess is that this case will be kept in the district court. If Dawson does not have a criminal record his lawyer might be able to get this case continued without a finding.

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Remember Joseph Houston? He is the former Brewster, Massachusetts police officer who got kicked out of a Metallica concert for peeing on concertgoers and then tried to get back in the concert by flashing his badge. His case is now over and it worked out great for him. He can thank a great criminal defense lawyer, a compassionate district attorney and a judge who simply “gets it”. According to reports, Houston will have to pay restitution in the amount of $2,632 to his victims and undergo alcohol counseling. If he does so and stays out of trouble for the next eighteen months his charges of assault and battery, trespassing and open and gross lewdness will be dismissed. The disposition or resolution of the case was accomplished by continuing the case without a finding.

Read Article: Charges Against Cop Who Urinated On Concert Fans To Be Dismissed

So what exactly is a continuance without a finding? In Massachusetts cases are often resolved in a manner whereby the defendant will have to adhere to certain conditions of probation however once he successfully completes those obligations the case will be dismissed on a designated date. In essence, the defendant is punished for the crime but he will not have a criminal record to show for it. The statute governing this rule is Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 278 Section 18. For years it was believed that this statute applied only to cases prosecuted in the District Courts. As recently as March of 2009 the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decided that continuances without a finding (CWOF’s) could be entered by judges in the Superior Court.

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David Dunbar is a level three sex offender according to the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board. He was convicted in 2000 of indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of fourteen. He has recently been living in a homeless shelter in Quincy. Just the other day however Dunbar removed the screen on a woman’s apartment entered the apartment and purportedly committed some additional serious crimes. He is now facing charges in the Quincy District Court for assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, malicious destruction to property and home invasion. He is being held on $350,000 bail.

Read Article, Boston Herald, April 7, 2009

The home invasion charge is the most serious crime that Dunbar is accused of committing. It is a violent crime proscribed by Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265 Section 18C. To be convicted of this crime the district attorney must prove that the defendant broke into someone’s home, knowing or having reason to know that they were home, while armed with a dangerous weapon and having used force or threats on the home’s occupant. A conviction of home invasion carries a twenty year minimum state prison sentence. The article stated that Dunbar was carrying a box cutter when he entered the home. That is sufficient to satisfy the element of “dangerous weapon”.

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