Massachusetts Criminal Lawyer Blog

It was a nice warm September day and JT was driving home in his car. He pulled into a parking lot in a State Forest in North Andover and began to masturbate in the car. A woman in an SUV pulled into the parking space next to JT. She looked over towards his car and he looked over at her. He continued to masturbate. She got out her cell phone and dialed 911. He backed his car up quickly and spead away, but not before she got his license plate. The police investigated. The police spoke to him and although he denied being in the parking lot he did tell the police he was the only person using his car that day. The woman ID'd his photo in a photo array as the man she saw masturbating. The North Andover PD charged JT with Open & Gross Lewdness (a felony). When the North Andover Police ran their data base they discovered that JT had a similar uncharged event from several years prior. This posed a major problem for JT - who is married and has a child. Two Open & Gross convictions requires Sex Offender Registration for 20 years and if he was placed on Probation the law mandates that he wear a GPS Tracking device during the term of his probation. JT retained Attorney Robert Lewin. Attorney Lewin met with the North Andover Police to see if prosecution for the old uncharged event could be avoided. Attorney Lewin also met with the Assistant District Attorney to try to work out a favorable plea bargain in the case. On November 29, 2012, Attorney Lewin and JT appeared in Lawrence District Court. After a full plea hearing the Judge ordered that JT's case be continued without a finding for one year. JT agreed to have a mental health evaluation and comply with any recommendations for outpatient treatment. In one year if JT stays out of trouble the charge will be dismissed and JT will be eligible to request that the court record be sealed. Because the case was continued without a finding JT was not convicted and he does not have to register as a convicted sex offender and he does not have to wear a GPS Tracking bracelet. JT left the court very relieved

The importance of getting a criminal record sealed cannot be overstated especially if you are looking for work. RL is a 44 year old man from Billerica, MA and is a driver for a major transportation company. When he got his job no criminal record background check was done. At the beginning of January 2012 RL learned that his company was now demanding criminal record checks on all employees. RL had a criminal record that went back to 1985 and culminated in 1990 with two convictions for open and gross lewdness in Somerville District Court. If his employer were to learn of those two convictions it is almost a sure bet that RL would get fired. On Thursday, January 5, 2012 RL contacted Attorney Robert Lewin for the first time and arranged to meet with Attorney Lewin on the evening of January 5, 2012. Attorney Lewin had prepared the paperwork to get RL's record sealed and at their first meeting on January 5 RL signed the paperwork. Attorney Lewin immediately submitted the petition to seal record to the Board of Probation. On Monday, January 9, 2012 the Commissioner of Probation approved the Petition to Seal RL's criminal record. Thereafter, RL's employer had RL sign an authorization allowing the employer to obtain a copy of RL's criminal record. The employer submitted the authorization and the Board of Probation reported back that RL had no record of any criminal court appearances. There are two methods of getting a record sealed: one involves a Petition to Seal submitted directly to the Commissioner of Probation; the other involves a Petition to Seal submitted directly to the court where the criminal case was heard.The type of Petition that is used is determined by how old the criminal record is and the date of the last criminal case on the record. In RL's situation, his cases were old enough that he was entitled to have his record sealed by a Petition submitted directly to the Commissioner of Probation. This type of Petition is easy, quick, and inexpensive. The firm of Lewin & Lewin does many Petitions to Seal over the course of a year and is highly successful.