Police made two arrests after pulling a car over on suspicion that the occupants were smoking marijuana, and found marijuana and several other illegal drugs. Brookline Police stopped the car after police smelled burning marijuana coming from the vehicle and saw something smoking that was being passed between the passengers.…
Two individuals were arrested by Cambridge Police earlier this month, following an exchange in which a detective witnessed what he perceived to be a transaction involving a firearm, drugs, or both. An ununiformed detective spotted one of the individuals, and believed that the individual was concealing a firearm, and after…
Attorney General Eric Holder recently announced that he is mandating a change to Justice Department policy regarding no longer requiring charging of crimes with mandatory minimum sentences in the cases of individuals who have committed low-level, non-violent drug crimes who do not have ties to large-scale organizations, gangs or cartels.The…
A United States Attorney recently announced that an alleged Chinatown crime boss has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for his involvement in drug trafficking, money laundering, and prostitution related criminal activities.The U.S. Attorney said in a statement that the defendant, Wei Xing Chen, pleaded guilty in…
Boston authorities announced the allegedly successful execution of a series of raids, which they referred to as “Operation H.” The crackdown targeted various individuals suspected of drug trafficking, gang activity, and violent crime. A spokesperson for the local district attorney’s office said that 75 people are potentially facing charges, which…
Massachusetts’ highest state court ruled last week that so called “social sharing” of marijuana is not a crime. The decision dealt with four separate cases that fell within the purview of a voter approved initiative which decriminalized possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. In one case, a man…
There have been multiple reports, and in fact even indictments of several employees of drug processing crime labs in Massachusetts in recent months. Additionally, two crime labs used by the state to process drug samples have been closed down until the allegations regarding the mishandling of evidence have been thoroughly…
Massachusetts government and law enforcement officials have introduced proposals in the hopes of expanding the limits of secret wiretapping. The reasoning behind the expansion is the purported goal of more easily gathering evidence against criminal suspects, such as with drug crimes. According to state Attorney General Martha Coakley, the current…
On September 6, 2012, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, the Commonwealth’s highest court, heard legal arguments on both sides of the issue of whether or not a judge should suppress the evidence seized from a defendant’s cellular telephone in circumstances where the phone was seized immediately from the defendant…
It was recently reported on August 2, 2012, that Governor Deval Patrick signed new Massachusetts criminal law legislation that imposes harsh penalties for repeat violent criminal law offenders convicted in the Commonwealth. In doing so, Massachusetts now reportedly joins twenty-six additional states that have imposed strong habitual criminal offender laws.…