Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

Together, African American narcotics officers and the Guardian Civil League have filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia, the Philidelphia Police Department, and two narcotics supervisors; the basis for this lawsuit arose from the officers’ claims of racial discrimination and retaliation. The discrimination, officers’ say, is a result…

  Since August of this year, breath test evidence has not been used in Massachusetts as a result of discovery violations that occurred during the Alcotest 9510 litigation in the Concord District Court that was heard before Judge Brennan.  Now New Jersey, has also had an issue impacting breath test…

The New York State Supreme Court Justice Andrew Ceresia recently ruled that prosecutors are not allowed to introduce Google location services as evidence into the second degree murder trial of Johnny Oquendo. In the ruling, Ceresia highlighted that prosecutors ultimately “failed to meet their burden” when exemplifying that Google location…

Massachusetts breath test evidence not being used in Court as the Head of the Office of Alcohol Testing was fired Monday.  Melissa O’Meara, the head of the Massachusetts Office of Alcohol, was fired Monday amid an investigation which uncovered that the office was withholding evidence of breath test machines that…

The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today that the breath test operator does not have to watch the defendant to be in compliance with the 15 minutes observation period.  This ruling is contrary to the regulations requiring that the breath test operator observe a defendant for 15 minutes. This decision arose…

When a driver is arrested for OUI, Massachusetts OUI law requires the officers to deliver a citation to the suspect immediately.  If there is a delay in issuing the citation, dismissal may be the appropriate remedy.  In the case of Commonwealth v. Richard O’Leary, the SJC reversed a lower court’s…

The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled today in Commonwealth v. Thomas Gerhardt that field sobriety tests are admissible for an OUI marijuana, but cautioned that jurors cannot rely on these tests in and of themselves to find someone guilty or impaired by marijuana. The model jury instruction drafted in the opinion…

This week there will be two significant hearings on breath testing.  The SJC will hear oral argument in the case of Commonwealth v. Camblin.  This case has been at the SJC before; in the first Camblin decision, the SJC held that a district court judge was wrong to deny the…

The Massachusetts Supreme Court has ruled that the four warnings that constituMirandanda are not to be changed, but that the exact words in which the essential information should be conveyed has not been dictated. As long as the miranda rights are reasonably dictated to the person being charged with a…

Gun charges against a Holden man were recently dismissed as the Massachusetts State Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the search warrant that was issued lacked probable cause and was ultimately invalid. This comes after the defendant Steven Mora filed a motion to suppress the fruits of the search, which uncovered…