Massachusetts Criminal Lawyer BlogCarlos F, a thirty year old laborer, was arrested in Malden, Massachusetts in 2004 with a small amount of cocaine in his sock. He was living in Massachusetts at the time and went to Malden District Court where he was charged with possession of cocaine. Before his case was finished Carlos left Massachusetts for greener pastures in Virginia. As a result of his leaving, Carlos was defaulted in Malden Court and the Court issued a warrant for his arrest. As a result of the warrant the Msssachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles suspended Carlos’s license. Meanwhile Carlos had obtained a Virginia license and lived and worked in Virginia from 2004 to 2011. In late 2010 Carlos received a notice from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles that his Virginia license was being suspended because he was under suspension in Massachusetts. Carlos wrote letters to the Masssachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles and he wrote to the Malden District Court trying to resolve the case without coming to Massachusetts; his letters fell on deaf ears. In early March 2011 Carlos retained Attorney Lewin. Attorney Lewin immediately contacted the District Attorney’s Office to see if they would be willing to dismiss the case without Carlos coming to Massachusetts. At first the DA was adamant that they wanted Carlos to come to Court to face the cocaine charge. The arresting officer was still on the force; the drugs were still in the evidence locker; the state could easily prove its case. Attorney Lewin suggested to the DA that the state could use money – given the difficult economic times. Atorney Lewin suggested dismissing the case upon the payment of $500 in Court costs. The DA bit the bait and when the horse trading finished an agreement was reached to dismiss the cocaine charge on the payment of $1,500 in Court costs. Carlos needs three months to make payment and the DA agreed to a payment schedule of $500 per month. We still needed to get the presiding Judge in Malden Court to adopt this agreement. Judge Johnson is not an easy Judge in this type of case; he does not like people who “take off” and then when their driving privileges get suspended in some other state come back here lookling for relief. He often requires the people to come back to Massachusetts to “face the music”. On Monday morning, March 7, 2011 Attorney Lewin went into Malden Court and presented a written Motion seeking relief. After a hearing in which the DA joined in a request to dismiss the case upon the payment of $1,500 over three months the Judge granted Attorney Lewin’s request. The Judge excused Carlos’s appearance, the Judge removed the default, the Judge cancelled the warrant (the cancellation of the warrant is the first step in getting the driving privileges reinstated), and the Judge ordered the case dismissed upon the payment of $1,500 in three months. Attorney Lewin left court and called Carlos in Virginia and gave him the good news. Attorney Lewin told Carlos that Attorney Lewin was going to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles to try to get his driving privileges reinstated. The next day Attorney Lewin went to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles and had a hearing with a hearing officer to get Carlos’s driving privileges in Massachusetts cleared. It turned out that Carlos had two Massachusetts Licenses. This took a little doing to unravel but by the end of the day on Tuesday, March 8 Carlos’s driving privileges in Massachusetts were reinstated. Attorney Lewin called Carlos with the news; Carlos then went to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles and got his Virginia license reinstated.
Articles Posted in Drug Charges
SCHOOL ZONE CHARGES DISMISSED IN DRUG CASE
TM had a favorite restaurant in North Woburn. He would go there often. One day he was approached by an undercover cop in the restaurant; they conversed and TM sold the undercover cop a small quantity of weed. Several days went by and the undercover cop contacted TM again and arranged a second sale which took place in the restaurant parking lot several days later. Several days after that a third sale took place in the parking lot. Unknown to TM all this activity was photographed by other police. Immediately after the third sale TM was arrested in the parking lot. A search of TM’s car revealed a larger quantity of marijhuana and Class C Pills and Class E Pills. In addition there was a pre-school within 1,000 feet of the restaurant parking lot where all the sales had taken place. TM was brought to court charged with three counts of distribution of marijhuana, three counts of a school zone violation (each carrying a 2 year mandatory minimum sentence which cannot be suspended), 1 count of possession of marijhuana with intent to distribute, 1 count of Possession of Class C, and 1 count of Possession of Class E. Attorney Lewin was retained and immediately began working on the school zone issue. The school zone statute is a very technical statute. It covers both public and private pre-schools. The statute, however, requires that the pre-school be accredited. The statute does not set forth who it is that does the accrediting, how long the accreditation lasts, etc. Attorney Lewin attacked this aspect of the case and filed Motions requiring the government to disclose all their evidence on this “accreditation” issue. The government stalled for three months. Finally Attorney Lewin motioned the Court to dismiss the school zone charges. The DA then approached Attorney Lewin about “working the case out”.At the end of the day on Tuesday, October 26, 2010 TM walked out of Woburn Court: the three school zone charges were all dismissed; all the remaining charges were continued without a finding for 18 months. If TM stays out of trouble all the charges will be dismissed at the end of the 18 months. Because no guilty findings were entered, TM will not lose his license.
MASSACHUSETTS SPECIAL DRUG STATUTE
One night in July 2010 RD drove from Vermont to visit a girlfriend in Ipswich; they planned to meet in North Andover. RD arrived first and parked in the parking lot of a convenvient store. The store was closed and it was around one in the morning. The police became suspicious and approached RD to see what his purpose was. One thing lead to another and the police discovered no less than three classes of drugs on RD. He was arrested and charged with Possession of Class A, Class D, and Class E Controlled Substances. RD was arraigned in Lawrence District Court and the case continued. There is a statute in Massachusetts that allows a judge in a drug possession case to “stay” the proceedings; that means the legal prosecution stops. The accused – if he consents- can enter a drug treatment program (which can be out-patient counseling) and, if he successfully completes the counseling, the case can then be dismissed. The Statute is Chapter 111E of the Massachusetts General Laws. In RD’s case Attorney Robert Lewin filed a Motion to Stay the proceedings pursuant to Chapter 111E. After a hearing, the Judge granted the Motion. The criminal proceddings were “stayed” (stopped); RD entered an outpatient drug counseling program and successfully completed the program. Today (October 13, 2010) the Judge in Lawrence District Court, after reviewing the report from the counseling program, ordered the case dismissed. RD is now in a position where he can petition the court to seal his record and that is the next step in getting this case completely removed from RD’s record.
ALLEGED DRUG DEALER WALKS
It was about 3:00 AM. JH was the front seat passenger in a car being driven by a highly intoxicated woman. There were two men in the back seat. The car got pulled over by the Groveland PD. During an examination of the car the police discovered a baggie on the floor by JH’s feet. Inside the bag were three smaller bags. The three small bags contained 1 gram of marijhuana, 1 gram of marijhuana, and 5 grams of marijhuana respectively. JH admitted to the police that the weed was his. Also JH had in his possession a pipe for smoking marijhuana. It looked like a simple possession case and that the police might let him go. The police then discovered that JH had $6,100 in cash in his pocket. That changed everything and the police charged JH with possession with intent to distribute marijhuana. JH, a painter, insisted that the cash was his that he earned from his work. In addition JH insisted that he had taken the money earlier that evening from home for the purpose of looking at a car. JH retained Lewin & Lewin. Attorney Robert Lewin spoke at length to the Assistant District Attorney at Haverhill District Court; the Assistant DA was reluctant to drop the case and suggested that the attorneys speak to the police. On October 5, 2010 Attorneys Robert Lewin and Joshua Lewin went to the Groveland Police Department and met face to face with the arresting officer and his superior. After a lengthy meeting at the police station an agreement was worked out. The charge against JH was dismissed and the money was split; the police kept $3,000 and returned $3,100 to JH. JH was relieved: he did not have to go to trial and he avoided the risk of losing his driver’s license for two years. (A conviction for Possession of Class D with Intent to Distribute carries a mandatory 2 year loss of license.) This was an example of lawyers being willing to go the extra step to get the result that the client wanted – a dismissal of the charge.
Heroin Dealer Gets Lucky
On January 15, 2010 the Tewksbury Police were doing an undercover surveillance at a parking lot of a large store in Tewksbury just off Route 495. They observed one vehicle parked in the parking lot away from any other vehicles and away from the store. A second vehicle entered the parking lot and parked in the space next to the first. The two drivers exited the two cars and the police observed what appeared to be a drug transaction take place. The two men then headed back to their respective cars. The police approached the two men and after some discussion it was determined that the driver of the second car (initials SR) had delivered a forty bag of heroin to the driver of the first car. SR was charged with Distribution of Heroin (Class A) and Conspiracy to Violate the Controlled Substance Law. The Distribution Charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in the State Prison; the Conspiracy charge carries the same maximum penalty. In addition a conviction (finding of guilty) to the charge of Distribution carries a mandatory 3 year loss of driving license (with the right to apply for a hardship license after 18 months). Attorney Lewin was retained and began discussing the case with the Assistant Distrrict Attorney; calls were also made to the police. Without SR becoming an informant Attorney Lewin was able to negotiate a settlement of the case. On May 27, 2010, the Conspiracy charge was dismissed and the Distribution charge was continued without a finding. Because there was no conviction SR did not lose his license. At the end of the period of the continuance without a finding the Distribution charge will be dismissed.
Drug Charges Dropped
JC, an 18 year old girl, was charged with Possession of A Class C Drug with Intent to Distribute and Conspiracy to Violate the Conrolled Substance Law. The charges arose out of an incident at the Square One Mall in Saugus. JC, who worked as a clerk at one of the stores at the mall, went to work and drove two male “friends” with her. She parked on the upper level of the parking lot and went to work. Her two male “friends” proceeded to begin selling drugs to “customers” at the mall. The two males would go back to JC’s car to remove the drugs and sell. them. After each sale they would return to the car to get more drugs. The drug operation was watched and video taped by mall security. The security officers called in the Saugus Police who confronted the two males and arrested them. The police searched JC’s car and found more drugs. While the police were searching JC’s car, JC came out into the parking lot on break. She saw her car being searched and confronted the police. She got arrested. Attorney Lewin secured the video tapes from Mall Security; the tapes showed that JC was not involved in any way with the drugs. Attorney Lewin was able to convince the DA that the drugs found in the car belonged to the two males and there was insufficient evidence connecting JC to the drugs or to any role in the distribution of the drugs. On May 11, 2010 the DA’s Office in Lynn District Court dismissed the drug charges against JC. The case took almost eight months to get resolved because the owner of the Mall resisted turining over the videos. Attorney Lewin persisted in obtaining a court order requiring the Mall owner to surrender the videos which they ultimately did.