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Seventeen year old Nigel Rowe of Westborough, Massachusetts has been charged with Rape. According to reports in the Metrowest Daily News and Wicked Local, Westborough, Rowe was arraigned today in the Westborough District Court. Bail was set at one thousand dollars. Rowe is permitted to remain attend school but is otherwise confined to his home. He is being monitored by a GPS device pending his pre-trial. Rowe was arrested Friday night by local police. It is reported that Rowe and the girl know each other.

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http://www.wickedlocal.com/westborough/newsnow/x1389367986/Westborough-high-football-player-pleads-not-guilty-to-rape-charges

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Westborough, Massachusetts Rape Defense Lawyer

Stories like this one always concern me. The accused is being charged with one of the most heinous acts, punishable be life in prison. Yet his bail is set at one thousand dollars and he can attend school. That suggests to me that the underlying facts are much less egregious than the charges suggest. Apparently the girl made her complaint last Thursday. The police conducted a one day investigation before making their arrest. As I have mentioned in prior blog posts, there are many defenses to Rape allegations. In cases where the act never occurred denial is a common defense. Where there was sexual contact but no rape then consent is typically offered as a defense. Many factors are taken into account by judges or juries in determining guilty or innocence in these cases. Where did the act occur? At what time? What condition was the complaining witness in at the time of the report? What did witnesses see or hear? What did the complaining witness tell her friends or family, if anything. What did the defendant say before or after his arrest. Rowe’s Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer will be looking into all of these issues immediately as he or she establishes the defense to this case. However, while this case is pending it is important to keep in mind that these charges are allegations only and Rowe enjoys a constitutional presumption of innocence.

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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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Alden Dow of Methuen, Massachusetts has been charged with Indecent Exposure and Disorderly Conduct. The Lawrence Eagle Tribune reports that Dow was urinating on the tire and bumper of a truck outside of a Methuen restaurant. The car owner, a woman, contacted police who responded to find Dow in an intoxicated state. Dow denied committing the act. Dow’s keys were found in his car. A criminal background check showed that his license had been suspended. Charges were filed. The case in pending in the Lawrence District Court.

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http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x583214285/Man-charged-with-indecent-exposure
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Indecent Exposure Defense Lawyers in Massachusetts

From the perspective of a Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer Dow did not commit the crime of Indecent Exposure. To convict the accused of the offense of Indecent Exposure in Massachusetts the district attorney must prove the Dow engaged in “an intentional act of lewd exposure, offensive to one or more persons”. Lewd conduct has been defined as “the commission of conduct in a public place, or the public solicitation of conduct to be performed in a public place, when the conduct committed or solicited involves the touching of the genitals, buttocks, or female breasts, for purposes of sexual arousal, gratification, or offense, by a person who knows or should know of the presence of a person or persons who may be offended by the conduct.” The act of urinating on someone’s truck tires does not satisfy this statute.

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Abdul Kareem Balogun of Revere, Massachusetts has been charged with Rape and Indecent Assault and Battery on a Retarded Person in Suffolk County. It has been reported that Balogun was a care taker for adults with mental health issues. He worked for a local medical assistance organization. One of the patients complained to a case worker about sexual assaults including demands for oral sex. The caseworker contacted the police. Their investigation disclosed that the victim had suffered abuse over ten times since Balogun began working for the organization in April of this year. The case is currently pending in the Chelsea District Court. The prosecution of this case will likely be handled in the Suffolk County Superior Court.

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Rape Charges For Massachusetts Man Working At Health Care Facility Filed

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Indecent Assault and Battery on a Mentally Retarded Person, Massachusetts

To be convicted of Indecent Assault and Battery on a Mentaly Retarded Person in Massachusetts the prosecution must prove that the defendant 1) committed an indecent assault and battery, 2) on a person with an intellectual disability and 3) that the defendant knew that the individual had the disability. If convicted of this crime there is a potential ten year state prison sentence and a five year sentence must be imposed. The five year sentence is not a minimum mandatory sentence so there can be some creativity with a plea bargain or through judicial discretion. Massachusetts courts have held that the prosecution succeeded in proving a victim’ s intellectual disability by through evidence that the person lived in a home for mentally retarded people, thus eliminating the need for expert testimony on that subject.

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About a month ago David Avery, a former Danvers, Massachusetts resident now living in Tewksbury received an errant text from a fourteen girl. Avery, who is thirty one years old and the girl texted each other for several weeks. The two eventually agreed to meet behind a store in Salem, Massachusetts. They engaged in various sex acts. Afterwards they went into the store to get a drink. Concerned about getting pregnant, the girl confided to a friend about the incident. She then told her mother who in turn took her to the Salem, Massachusetts police station. A surveillance video at the store partially corroborated the girl’s story. Avery has now been charged with two counts of Statutory Rape in the Salem, Massachusetts District Court. This case will most likely be prosecuted in the Essex County Superior Court.

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http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x677780042/Police-Mistaken-text-message-leads-to-rape-of-14-year-old

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Massachusetts Statutory Rape Defense Attorney

Statutory Rape in Massachusetts is a felony pursuant to M.G.L. ch. 265 s 23. It makes no difference that the defendant did not know the victim’s age at the time of the act. The prosecution has to prove only two elements to sustain a conviction for Statutory Rape in Massachusetts. 1) That the defendant had sexual intercourse or unnatural sexual intercourse, with 2) a child under sixteen years of age. Moreover, it has long been the law in Massachusetts that it is no defense that the defendant did not know that the victim was under the statutory age of consent. It is also immaterial that the defendant reasonably believed that the victim was sixteen years of age or older or that he may have attempted to ascertain her age. Thus, the only defense to this case is that the acts for which the accused stands charged never occurred.

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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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This past weekend Lawrence, Massachusetts police responded to a call for a fight.
While on their way to the scene the officers were apprised that shots were fired. They arrived and saw two men fleeing. Officers were initially able to stop Rafael Ortega. Ortega’s girlfriend told the police that she and Ortega were at a party. A couple of guests arrived and trouble started. One of the guests called the girlfriend a name. She pushed him in the face. He responded by punching her in the face. Ortega came to her defense. The man was armed. Ortega disarmed him to protect himself and his girlfriend. He also fired one or two shots to scare the individual away. When he heard the police cars Ortega fled and discarded the weapon. He told this story to the police and led them to the weapon. Ortega has been charged with Discharging a Firearm Within 500 Feet of a Dwelling and Within 100 yards of a Street, Possession of a Firearm, Carrying a Firearm and Possession of Ammunition. The case is pending in the Lawrence District Court. This case might be indicted and prosecuted in the Essex County Superior Court in Salem.

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http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x124776832/Two-facing-gun-charges-following-fight

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Massachusetts Gun Charge Lawyer

If Ortega’s story is true he has a legitimate defense to this case. Massachusetts law permits you to defend yourself. Ortega had every right to disarm his assailant. When he did, his possession of the weapon did not constitute a crime. Rather, this is lawful behavior consistent with self-defense or the defense of another, his girlfriend. What gives Ortega’s story a ring of truth is twofold. One, his girlfriend provided this information to the police at the time of the incident thereby quieting any thought of this being a fabrication. Second, Ortega was cooperative with the police and essentially told the same story. It would not surprise me at all to see Ortega acquitted either after a trial or after a motion to dismiss.

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Last week Newton residents Steven Elliott and Kristin Kimball pleaded not guilty at their arraignment. Both stand charged with Rape of a Child, Posing a Child in the Nude and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor. Elliot is also charged of Aggravated Rape of a Child and Possession of Child Pornography. The incident is alleged to have occurred in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Elliott was released on five thousand dollars bail. Kimball was released on her own recognizance. The case is being prosecuted in the Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn. No further details were given in the article referenced below nor does the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office reference this case in its press releases.

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http://www.wickedlocal.com/newton/news/x1380095779/Newton-residents-charged-in-Marlborough-child-rape

Posing a Child in the Nude, Massachusetts

The crime of Posing a Child in the Nude is proscribed by Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 272 Section 29A. There are several subsections of that law. The law itself is designed to punish anyone who is involved in exhibiting someone under the age of eighteen in a state of nudity, “for the purpose of representation or reproduction in any visual material”. The statue has a ten year minimum sentence and a maximum of twenty years. Consent is not a defense to these charges. Whereas the defendants also face charges of Rape of a Child, a child being under the age of sixteen, it is clear that the victim in this case must be younger than sixteen.

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