Information is the first line of defense in the Massachusetts criminal defense legal landscape, particularly for our tradespeople, students and professional clients in Greater Boston. The Greater Boston Criminal Law Alerts provides dispassionate, expert analysis on the legal developments impacting students and professionals across the district courts and superior courts of Eastern Massachusetts.”
In Massachusetts, a clerk-magistrate hearing, also called a show cause hearing, is a pre-arraignment procedure designed to determine if there is sufficient probable cause to issue a criminal complaint. The primary purpose of these hearings is to allow the court clerk to screen some criminal matters out of the justice system. Defendants facing allegations in Eastern…
Continue reading ›College students across Boston use fake IDs to enter a bar or purchase alcohol. It is reasonably viewed as a harmless ritual and a ticket to a fun night out. The Boston Police Department (BPD) and the local courts, particularly the Boston Municipal Court, do not share this view. A student caught with a doctored driver’s…
Continue reading ›If you took a breathalyzer test at a Massachusetts police station and registered a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of .08 or higher, the police and the prosecutor will treat the case as if it is already over. They rely on the psychological weight of that number to force defendants into accepting a “Continuance Without a…
Continue reading ›A “Notice to Appear for Clerk-Magistrate’s Hearing” in the Massachusetts District Court or Boston Municipal Court arrives by mail. It can be a surprise and may even induce some panic. You have not been arrested, but the police, it appears, are attempting to charge you with a crime. The anxiety can be justified. However the…
Continue reading ›If you have been summoned to the Cambridge District Court at 4040 Mystic Valley Parkway in Medford, you are entering a rigorous and administratively complex jurisdiction in the Greater Boston and Massachusetts. Cambridge District Court hears cases from Cambridge, Arlington, and Belmont. The court sits at the absolute intersection of the world’s leading academic institutions and its…
Continue reading ›The 2026 Edition of the Massachusetts Guide to Evidence (released in April 2026) maintains Section 1119 (Digital Evidence) as a resource for the use of electronic information in Greater Boston and Massachusetts court cases. This section addresses the unique challenges of digital data—including text messages, social media, and metadata—ensuring they meet standard evidentiary requirements of relevance and authentication. For…
Continue reading ›Under Massachusetts firearms law, all legally owned firearms must be registered with the state by October 2, 2026. Additionally, any privately manufactured firearms (often called “ghost guns”) or firearms that lack serial numbers must be serialized by October 28, 2026.To understand your current legal risk, we must look at the calendar. The sequence of events…
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