The past day or so, I’ve had several people see me in court and express shock over the discovery of a probation sentence given five years ago, in 2009, to du Pont family heir Robert H. Richards IV, following his agreement at that time to plead guilty to fourth-degree rape…
For a long time, Massachusetts sex offenses were – very generally speaking – broken down into “contact offenses,” where the defendant made physical contact with the victim, and “noncontact offenses,” where the defendant engaged in acts that are generally known as indecent exposure, or to use the lay term, “flashing.”…
Amazing how a new expression or grammatical term can crop up almost literally overnight, isn’t it? The newest term that seems to be on everyone’s lips today: “Upskirting.” Seemingly a new verb that would have been met with confused looks just yesterday, now seems to be somehow thrown around as…
When people ask me how I can defend people accused of sex crimes, there’s often a look of disbelief on their faces. They’re conjuring images of a rape victim being dragged into an alley or car, to be later violently beaten and raped. That’s a horrible image, so I understand…
It’s the world’s oldest profession – and by the looks of things, the perpetrators – and victims — of prostitution are getting younger and younger. Recently, police in three Massachusetts communities arrested three alleged pimps and 11 other people suspected of Massachusetts prostitution crimes. According to authorities, the arrests also…
To be charged with rape at all is a devastating criminal charge. But things have gotten a lot worse for a Taunton High School teacher, for whom things have gone from bad to really, really bad. Patrick Doyle, a 33 year-old teacher at Taunton High School, had already been charged…
Boston sex offenders now have one more thing to worry about. The city is the first in the USA to dedicate a police officer to the U.S. Marshals Sex Offender Investigations Branch. Their goal in teaming up together is to coordinate their efforts to track down convicted sex offenders who…
Be careful what you say in a text message. It used to be that phone calls and letters could be used in a court of law, to prove one guilty of indecent sexual solicitation. Nowadays, this Massachusetts sex crime can also be committed by text messaging, and here’s one example…
Think that women are more frequently the victims of sexual assault? As a Dedham Massachusetts sexual offense lawyer, I can tell you – it’s not the case. According to a new report published in U.S. News and World Report’s HealthDay News, men with disabilities are four times more likely to…
One of the things that make the practice of law interesting is that fine details always make the difference in given rulings. Such was the case earlier this week when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC,) ruled against state prosecutors’ attempts to civilly commit a man that has openly acknowledged…