According to an article the in MetroWest Daily News, a Framingham police officer stopped a Volkswagen sedan with four teenage occupants – all juveniles – last week. While it’s not clear why the officer originally stopped the car, after the driver and passengers were allowed to leave, an automatic license…
A new bill – S 853 – was unveiled at the statehouse last Tuesday. The bill establishes new crimes related to domestic violence, new legal provisions to protect alleged victims, and new training for judges in relation to domestic violence cases. Specifically, the bill creates a new charge for a first…
This past week, the Massachusetts’ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued its long-awaited report on the Hinton drug lab scandal. The purpose of the OIG’s investigation was to look at how the Hinton lab was run for the 10 years before it was shut down in 2012, identify deficiencies in…
Earlier this week, the Supreme Judicial Court issued its decision in Commonwealth v. Scott. In the decision, the SJC made it easier for defendants who were convicted of drug offenses involving Dookhan drug certificates, and who are now seeking to vacate their pleas. In April 2011, Scott was arrested. Following…
According to an article in the MetroWest Daily News, a homeless man was arrested in a Framingham house last week. According to the article, the man was found in the bathroom of the home. The homeowner, a woman, told the police that she went into her bathroom and discovered the…
On February 18, 2013, the Supreme Judicial Court issued a decision in Commonwealth v. Augustine. In the decision, the court ruled that the Commonwealth must obtain a warrant supported by probable cause before getting cell site location information (CSLI) associated with a particular cellular telephone from cellular telephone providers. CSLI…
According to an article in the MetroWest Daily News, a Framingham man sexually assaulted his son’s girlfriend. The man reportedly shares his apartment with his son and the girlfriend. According to the article, the man went into the bedroom used by his son and the girlfriend. The girlfriend was lying on…
According to an article in the MetroWest Daily News, a Framingham man allegedly assaulted his daughter last week. The article alleges that the defendant was drinking and physically attacked the daughter, including putting her in a headlock at one point. The daughter then reportedly struck the defendant with a knife in…
On December 24, 2013, in Commonwealth v. Diatchenko, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that all life-without-parole sentences for juvenile offenders, whether mandatory or discretionary, violate the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment under Article 26 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. This decision went beyond current federal law, laid out…
On December 24, 2013, in Diatchenko v. District Attorney for the Suffolk District, the Supreme Judicial Court held that the imposition of life without parole sentences on juveniles is unconstitutional. Diatchenko was convicted of first-degree murder for killing a man in 1981, when Diatchenko was just seventeen. At that time,…