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Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: Criminal Record Alone Does Not Justify Patfrisk, Gun Discovered in Waistband Suppressed

Article • December 15, 2022 • from CLN January, 2023

Filed under: Felon in Possession Statute, Suppression of Evidence, Pat Down Searches

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: Criminal Record Alone Does Not Justify Patfrisk, Gun Discovered in Waistband Suppressed by Jacob Barrett by Jacob Barrett The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts upheld a Superior Court’s order granting a motion to suppress a firearm that was discovered during an unlawful patfrisk because the motorist’s …

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Announces New Rule Governing Warrants for CSLI and Tower Dumps, Suppresses CSLI Evidence Because Warrant Lacked Particularized Facts Establishing Nexus Between Def...

Article • November 15, 2022 • from CLN December, 2022

Filed under: Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet, Cell Site Location Information ("CSLI")

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Announces New Rule Governing Warrants for CSLI and Tower Dumps, Suppresses CSLI Evidence Because Warrant Lacked Particularized Facts Establishing Nexus Between Defendant’s Use of Cell Phone and Charged Crimes by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso The Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) of Massachusetts validated one warrant …

News in Brief

Article • November 15, 2022 • from CLN December, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: Court documents revealed the week of Oct. 3, 2022, show that a former Brookside police chief, Mike Jones, was indicted by a grand jury for speeding and impersonating an officer. AL.com reported that Jones had resigned from his post as the town’s Chief of Police …

Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant Pleas Guilty to Thousands of Dollars’ Worth of Overtime Fraud

Article • October 27, 2022

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Major Fraud/Fraud Offenses Act

Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant Pleas Guilty to Thousands of Dollars’ Worth of Overtime Fraud by Kaden Gicker David Keefe, 57, who once oversaw a barracks of the Massachusetts State Police (“MSP”), pleaded guilty in Suffolk Superior Court on Oct. 6, 2022, to committing fraud on records of overtime. The announcement …

Commonwealth v. Phenpimol, MA, Dft's Emergency Motion to Dismiss Indictments Counts on Second Amendment Grounds, Possession of Firearm, 2022

Brief • October 17, 2022

Filed under: Possession or Use of Firearms, Firearms

Commonwealth v. Phenpimol, MA, Dft's Emergency Motion to Dismiss Indictments Counts on Second Amendment Grounds, Possession of Firearm, 2022 LAW OFFICE OF HECTOR E. Pll\fEIRO, P.C. 807 MAIN STREET WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS 01610 (508) 770-0600 FAX (508) 770--1300 HECTOR E. PINEIRO hector@pineirolegal.com NANCY CRUZ DE PINEIRO Business Manager nancy@pineirolegal.com October 17, …

News in Brief

Article • August 15, 2022 • from CLN September, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Canada: Techdirt reported that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (“RCMP”), a division of that country’s federal law enforcement akin to the FBI, used malware to spy on people’s personal communications. The report came after the RCMP admitted to doing so in the summer of 2022. The …

Discredited Narcotics Unit Revamped as Firearms Unit

Article • May 1, 2022 • from CLN May, 2022

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Excessive Force (Police), Firearms

Discredited Narcotics Unit Revamped as Firearms Unit by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney In 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice reported that officers from the Narcotics Unit of the Springfield Police Department in Massachusetts engaged “in a pattern or practice of excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment of …

Former Boston police union boss pleads guilty to child rape and abuse charges

Article • April 28, 2022

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Guard Unions

Former Boston police union boss pleads guilty to child rape and abuse charges by Brooke Kaufman by Brooke Kaufman According to the New York Post, former Police Patrolmen’s Association head Patrick Rose, 67, pleaded guilty to 21 counts of child rape and sexual abuse. The crimes spanned a 27-year period …

Massachusetts Supreme Court: Prosecution Failed to Prove Defendant Knowingly, Voluntarily, and Intelligently Waived Right to Counsel After Having Asked for Lawyer Earlier But Officer Continued to Enga...

Article • March 15, 2022 • from CLN April, 2022

Filed under: Confessions - Admissibility, After Request for Counsel

Massachusetts Supreme Court: Prosecution Failed to Prove Defendant Knowingly, Voluntarily, and Intelligently Waived Right to Counsel After Having Asked for Lawyer Earlier But Officer Continued to Engage in ‘General’ Talk for Nearly 45 Minutes by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso The Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts …

News in Brief

Article • March 15, 2022 • from CLN April, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: Techdirt reports that police in Brookside have routinely violated the law in traffic enforcement. By early February 2022, it was clear that the local police department in the small town had been racking up staggering amounts of income in traffic fines, receiving more than $600,000 …

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Announces Bodycam Video Subsequently Reviewed in Unrelated Investigation Constitutes Unconstitutional Warrantless Search

Article • February 15, 2022 • from CLN March, 2022

Filed under: Videotaping, Warrantless Searches

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Announces Bodycam Video Subsequently Reviewed in Unrelated Investigation Constitutes Unconstitutional Warrantless Search by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso  In a case of first impression on two issues, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (“SJC”) held that (1) an officer wearing a bodycam inside a suspect’s …

Massachusetts Remains a Civil Forfeiture Outlier

Article • February 15, 2022 • from CLN March, 2022

Filed under: Government Misconduct, Forfeiture

Massachusetts Remains a Civil Forfeiture Outlier by Jayson Hawkins by Jayson Hawkins  The five-plus decade battlefield of America’s war on drugs and crime is littered with dishonesty, abuse, and failure, which goes far to explain why 50 years of social war has achieved nothing beyond the growth of a massive …

Civil Forfeiture Under Fire in Massachusetts

Article • January 15, 2022 • from CLN February, 2022

Filed under: Criminal justice system reform, Forfeiture

Civil Forfeiture Under Fire in Massachusetts by Jayson Hawkins by Jayson Hawkins Devantee Jones-Bernier did not have any drugs on him when police executed a search warrant on the apartment where he was visiting some friends in Worcester, Massachusetts. Marijuana was found in the unit, and so Jones-Bernier was initially …

Boston Cops Fleece Citizens to Secretly Buy Controversial Spy Tech

Article • December 24, 2021

Filed under: Forfeiture, Electronic Surveillance

Boston Cops Fleece Citizens to Secretly Buy Controversial Spy Tech by J.D. Schmidt by J.D. Schmidt Boston police used money obtained via civil asset forfeiture to secretly purchase high-tech cell phone surveillance equipment, a new report claims. The exposé, published jointly by Pro Publica and WBUR, details how the Boston …

News in Brief

Article • December 15, 2021 • from CLN January, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Arizona: Claims for $300,000 were filed in September 2021 against the city of Chandler, Arizona, in advance of a lawsuit planned by two activists arrested during a protest against police brutality six months earlier. According to a report by the Phoenix New Times, the men, Darien …

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Announces Impacted Third Party Has Right to Appeal Motion Granting Postconviction DNA Testing

Article • December 15, 2021 • from CLN January, 2022

Filed under: DNA Testing/Samples

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Announces Impacted Third Party Has Right to Appeal Motion Granting Postconviction DNA Testing by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that a third party who is ordered to provide biological materials pursuant to G. L. c. 278A has a right …

First Circuit: ‘Controlled Substances Offense’ Under § 2K2.1(a)(2) of USSG Refers to Time of Sentencing, Not Time of Prior Conviction

Article • December 15, 2021 • from CLN January, 2022

First Circuit: ‘Controlled Substances Offense’ Under § 2K2.1(a)(2) of USSG Refers to Time of Sentencing, Not Time of Prior Conviction by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that the term “controlled substance offense” in § 2K2.1(a)(2) of the U.S. Sentencing …

News in Brief

Article • October 15, 2021 • from CLN November, 2021

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A former Alabama cop convicted of murdering a mentally ill and suicidal man in his own home reported to a state prison in Montgomery on September 6, 2021, to begin serving a 25-year sentence he received for the crime, according to Huntsville TV station WAFF. …

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Announces Premature Sex Offender Classification of Incarcerated Offender Who Accepted Classification Violates Procedural Due Process

Article • October 15, 2021 • from CLN November, 2021

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Announces Premature Sex Offender Classification of Incarcerated Offender Who Accepted Classification Violates Procedural Due Process by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney  The Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) of Massachusetts held that a premature sex offender classification for an incarcerated offender who has waived her right to a …

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: Withholding Exculpatory Statement Change by Key Witness Constitutes Brady Violation, Requiring New Trial

Article • September 15, 2021 • from CLN October, 2021

Filed under: Witnesses - Prior Statements/Testimony, Evidence - Failure to Disclose

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: Withholding Exculpatory Statement Change by Key Witness Constitutes Brady Violation, Requiring New Trial by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held that the prosecution in a first-degree murder (extreme atrocity or cruelty) trial failed to disclose material, exculpatory evidence that a …