Articles Posted in Avoiding Criminal Record

BH, a 52 year old male from South Carolina, had been calling a student help line at a Major University in the Boston area for over three years. The calls were persistent and had strong sexual overtones. The calls would come in the hours just after midnight and would involve masturbation and other sexual topics. The university had traced the calls back to BH and had warned him to stop. For a while BH contained himself but then the calls started up again. The University filed an application for a criminal complaint against BH. The Application sought a criminal complaint for annoying phone calls. The calls were numerous and the penalty for each call was up to three months in jail. The University had documented close to one hundred calls. BH was looking at the real possibility of a jail sentence. Immediately upon receiving the notice from the Court BH contacted and retained Attorney Robert Lewin from North Andover.

Attorney Lewin implemented a plan of action. Attorney Lewin told BH he had to immediately enroll in counseling with a licensed psychotherapist with experience in sex offenses. Attorney Lewin told BH it would be imperative for the psychotherapist to furnish a report that BH was in treatment to deal with this specific problem. BH did what Attorney Lewin asked. In the meantime Attorney Lewin contacted the University Detective who had completed the investigation. Attorney Lewin advocated for a result that would avoid an actual criminal complaint from being issued against BH. Attorney Lewin had several conversations with the Detective in the weeks leading up to the Court Clerk-Magistrate Hearing. Attorney Lewin received a written report from the psychotherapist. The report certified that BH was in treatment for the specific problems underlying the annoying phone calls.

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On July 19, 2015 KC, a 22 year old woman from Lawrence, was driving to work in Lexington when she was pulled over by the State Police. Her Massachusetts Driver’s License had been previously suspended by the Registry of Motor Vehicles because she had accumulated three speeding tickets and because she had failed to pay speeding tickets. Because she had 5 convictions for speeding and because she had two payment defaults, her driver record from the RMV was a mess. The State Trooper cited KC for operating after suspension of license and she subsequently received a summons to go to Concord District Court for an arraignment. KC retained Attorney Robert Lewin from North Andover. Attorney Lewin immediately ran KC’s driver record and obtained a copy of the police report. As always, the devil is in the details.

KC had actually received two notices on the same date (July 9, 2015) from the RMV. One notice was a notice of suspension for having accumulated three speeding tickets which informed her that her license was suspended effective July 19, 2015 (the same date she was stopped by the State Police). The second notice was a notice of INTENT to suspend her license for the same three speeding tickets. The effective date of that suspension was October 7, 2015. Attorney Lewin wanted KC to have her licernse back by the time they went to court for the arraignment. KC needed an additional month to complete her requirements to get reinstated. Attorney Lewin had the date of KC’s arraignment postponed until November 23, 2015. In late October 2015 KC got her license reinstated.

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On May 1, 2015, SC, a 19 year old fellow from Dracut with no criminal record, got very high smoking a controlled substance with several neighbors. At 1:00 AM he went to a convenient store in Dracut; the store was closed. SC had a barbell with him and proceeded to break a plate glass window and the window frame attempting to gain entrance to the store. A silent alarm was tripped and the police responded. A neighbor also had seen what had gone on and the store security system video had captured images of SC breaking the window and the frame. The police arrived and observed SC’s condition; it was clear he was under the influence of something. SC called his Mother who also responded to the scene. The police allowed SC to go in the custody of his Mother but told him he would be summonsed into court. Eight weeks later SC received a summons to appear in Lowell District Court to answer to a criminal complaint charging SC with two counts of malicious destruction to property over $250, attempted breaking and entering, and possession of burglars tools (all felonies). SC and his mother came to see Attorney Robert Lewin in North Andover and retained Attorney Lewin. SC had no criminal record and having four felony charges on his record could create great problems for SC in terms of getting employment or going to college. Firstly, Attorney Lewin explained to SC that if anything helps make this type of case go away it is paying for the damage done to the store and apologizing to the store owner. SC’s Mother and Grandfather went to the storekeeper and had a heart to heart talk with the storekeeper. The storekeeper had spent $1,062 replacing the large plate glass and fixing the window frame. SC’s grandfather wrote out a check to the storekeeper for the full amount. The storekeeper was very appreciative and wrote out a receipt. On the receipt he specifically requested that all the charges against SC be dropped. Attorney Lewin called the Police Prosecutor from Dracut and explained the situation. Attorney Lewin then went over to Lowell District Court and met face to face with the Police Prosecutor from Dracut. Attorney Lewin asked the police to agree to dismiss the criminal charges prior to arraignment. The significance of the criminal charges being dismissed prior to arraignment is that the charges DO NOT GO ON THE ACCUSED PERSON’S RECORD. A criminal record gets created once an accused person is arraigned in court. The police prosecutor was agreeable. Now it was necessary to get the District Attorney’s Office to agree. Attorney Lewin made a call to the Supervisor of the District Attorney’s Office at Lowell District Court. Attorney Lewin explained the entire case and that the police were agreeable to the charges being dismissed prior to arraignment. Attorney Lewin put the Assistant District Attorney in touch with the police prosecutor and the Assistant District Attorney then agreed to the charges being dismissed prior to arraignment.
On September 15, 2015 SC and Attorney Lewin appeared in Lowell District Court. SC’s case was called in the First Criminal Session and Attorney Lewin informed the Judge that the Commonwealth and the Defense had agreed that all the charges were to be dismissed without SC being arraigned (prior to arraignment). The Judge ordered the charges all dismissed prior to arraignment.
As a result of this disposition SC has NO CRIMINAL RECORD. If a CORI check is done on SC this case will not show up. It is as if it did not happen. SC and his Mother left the Courthouse very very happy with the result.

The problem with having a larceny (or even a shoplifting charge) on your record is that no one wants to hire a thief. Getting a job can be made difficult if you have a larceny conviction on your record. On August 30, 2014 H & W (a husband and wife in their early 30s from Salem, NH) got caught stealing 10 metal shopping carts from a large supermarket in North Andover. The facts of the case were unusual in the extreme. H worked for a retail store and was in charge of inventory. His job required him to off load merchandise from delivery trucks and distribute the merchandise throughout the retail store. The retail store did not have large carts and moving the merchandise became a huge chore. H got the idea that he would “borrow” ten shopping carts from the supermarket and use them to offload merchandise. On August 30, 2014 at 3:00 AM H and his Wife drove to the supermarket and each of them took five large shopping carts and began to push them on a half mile journey to the retail store where H worked. The journey took them up a long steep hill. Those carts get heavy. About half way up the hill they were exhausted and stopped for a breather. Along came the North Andover Police. The police made H & W turn around and push the shopping carts back to the supermarket. The police decided not to arrest H & W but told them they would be summonsed to court for an arraignment. In most criminal cases a “criminal record” is created when the arraignment is held. H & W received summonses to appear in Lawrence District Court for an arraignment to be held on November 5, 2014. H & W both wanted to avoid having a criminal record for larceny. H & W retained criminal Attorney Robert Lewin from North Andover. Attorney Lewin immediately contacted the District Attorney’s Office at Lawrence District Court. Attorney Lewin prepared a background statement for both H & W and then sat down with an Assistant District Attorney and advocated for the DA’s Office to agree to dismiss the charges BEFORE H & W were arraigned. Neither H nor W had a criminal record and this incident was incredibly stupid. This was not the kind of incident that warranted giving H & W a criminal record for a felony charge of Larceny. In a “rare” moment of reasonableness the DA’s Office agreed not only to dismiss the charges but to dismiss them prior to arraignment so that a criminal record would not be created. On November 5, 2014 H & W and Attorney Lewin appeared in Lawrence District Court. The case was called and Attorney Lewin informed the Judge of the agreement that had been reached. The Judge then ordered the case against H and the case against W dismissed prior to arraignment. As a result neither H nor W has a criminal record. It is as if the incident did not happen.

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