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Automatic License Suspension for Drug Convictions

One of the unintended consequences of being convicted on criminal drug charges in Massachusetts was that your driver’s license would automatically be suspended. However, thanks to a new law that unanimously passed in both chambers of the Legislature and was signed by Governor Charlie Baker, this automatic driver’s license suspension for drug crimes has been repealed and the five hundred dollar reinstatement fine associated with the suspension has been lifted, too. Luckily, the repeal is effective immediately. Anyone whose license was suspended under the old law will have it reinstated within thirty days of the new bill’s passage, and any records related to the driver’s license suspension will be protected from public access. Continue Reading

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Victims of Annie Dookhan

Countless criminal defendants who received drug convictions based on evidence handled by the state drug labs have been closely watching the developments in the Annie Dookhan case. Annie Dookhan was a former crime lab analyst who in 2012 admitted to mishandling hundreds of evidence samples and labeling samples as drugs, even when the samples were not drugs or were not properly tested. Once Dookhan’s misconduct was discovered by state police during a lab audit, it came to light that there were potentially hundreds of wrongful convictions made on Dookhan’s test results. Criminal cases that involved Dookhan’s handling of drug samples began to be reviewed and hundreds of convictions have already been overturned. Conventional thought was that victims of Annie Dookhan would sue for being wronfully convicted.  Continue Reading

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Inventory Search

Last month the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a trial judge’s decision to suppress evidence unlawfully obtained in the course of an inventory search. In Commonwealth v. Oliveira, decided March 28, 2016 the Court found it unreasonable for the police to conduct an inventory search after the operator was arrested for shoplifting and the operator gave the police a practical alternative to impounding the car. In addition to shoplifting, the defendants in this case were charged with carrying a firearm in violation of G.L. c. 269 Section 10(a) and possession of ammunition, a violation of G.L. c. 269 Section 10(h). Both the weapon and the ammunition were suppressed. This will likely result in a dismissal of those charges. Continue Reading

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Felony Theft

Massachusetts is one of the few states that imposes serious criminal charges when a person steals an item worth more than $250. Stealing an item valued at more than $250 is a felony theft under Massachusetts law. The consequence of this is that people who commit relatively minor offenses of theft are subject to incredibly harsh punishments. Continue Reading

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Domestic Assault and Battery Charges

Domestic assault and battery charges are something that many criminal defendants face. Whether there is some truth to the allegations against you or if you stand falsely accused, if you are being charged with domestic violence, you need to get into touch with an experienced Massachusetts criminal defense lawyer immediately. There are a number of different ways to to approach domestic assault and battery charges, and below are a few ways that your domestic violence defense lawyer might approach your case. Continue Reading

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Hair Evidence

The Massachusetts state police recently have begun to review numerous criminal cases where convictions were made based upon hair sample evidence according to WCVB 5 News. Apparently state crime lab workers were trained on how to perform hair evidence analysis testing incorrectly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and a number of criminal defendants have been wrongfully convicted as a result of this improper analysis technique. Continue Reading

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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 of naturalization or exclusion from admission to this country was not what it is now. That has all changed dramatically in the past decade. Criminal history databases are much more sophisticated. Employers and the government can more easily find out that someone has a record. So now, many times each month I get inquiries from people in need of withdrawing guilty pleas and vacating convictions. Continue Reading

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The 5th Amendment: Why A... "Don't Talk To Police"

You Do Not Have To Talk To A Police Officer

Here is a very common scenario. Someone calls me up for “advice”. They tell me that the police want to talk to them about an incident. I ask them to tell me what happened. Don’t sugar coat it. Just tell me what happened. They often give a very abridged version of the event. The advice is almost always going to be the same. Don’t talk to the cops. Instead, hire a lawyer to protect you. Sometimes they respond by saying “yeah, but I didn’t do anything”. Maybe that’s true however the fact that you are calling a lawyer to see if you should talk to the police tells me something in and of itself. Keep this advice in mind. You do not have to talk to a police officer. Continue Reading

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Making and Selling Fake Drugs

It often comes as a surprise to those who are arrested by the police for making or selling fake drugs that the charges are just as serious as being caught dealing in real, illegal substances. You can face jail time, steep fines, and significant penalties. You might think that because you are not in fact making and selling a real illegal drug that your actions are simply no harm no foul. You did not really do anything wrong, right? That is absolutely untrue. Continue Reading

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Drug Paraphernalia

Law enforcement in Massachusetts take the possession and sale of drug paraphernalia very seriously. That is to say, getting busted with drug paraphernalia is nearly as bad as being busted with illegal drugs in Massachusetts. Under M.G.L. Chapter 94C, Section 32I, it is illegal for a person to sell, possess, or purchase with the intent to sell or manufacture with the intent to sell, drug paraphernalia, knowing that the buyer or user will use the paraphernalia to do illegal drugs. Continue Reading