Violent Crimes Attorney – Boston, Massachusetts
Murder | Intent to Murder | Armed Robbery | Felon in Possession of A Firearm
Seldom are violent crimes handled by the police in the manner portrayed in television dramas. Due to limited manpower and budget restrictions, police and prosecutors do not always pursue alternative suspects, verify or disprove alibis, or interview witnesses who could provide exculpatory testimony. As experienced Boston violent crimes defense lawyers − and former prosecutors − attorney Yannetti and his associates are well-equipped to put the prosecution on the defensive by identifying and exploiting their failure to track down alternative suspects, pursue leads and properly handle evidence.
Contact Boston violent crimes lawyer David R. Yannetti and his colleagues at the Yannetti Criminal Defense Law Firm today for a free phone consultation. With many years of experience, we are truly seasoned Massachusetts criminal defense attorneys that you can trust to handle your case correctly and give you the proper advice.
Facing Charges for a Violent Crime
Attorney Yannetti and his associates represent clients charged with the following kinds of violent crime:
- Murder
- Assault with intent to murder
- Armed robbery
- Felon in possession of a firearm
- Assault and battery
- Assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon
- Aggravated assault
- Arson
- Mayhem
- Domestic assault
- Road rage
- Kidnapping
- Extortion
- Car jacking
- Sexual assault/rape
- Affray/fighting in public
Assumptions and Cut Corners − Why Few Cases Are “Open and Shut”
Police investigators and prosecutors often work from the assumption that most victims of violent crimes know their attacker. As a result, early on in an investigation, attention is typically focused on spouses, family members, friends, neighbors, romantic interests and co-workers. Unfortunately, circumstantial evidence or a weak alibi can result in a rush to judgment when police and prosecutors are overburdened and don’t have the time or resources needed to verify every bit of information or evidence.
Suffolk County Assault Defense Attorney
As your lawyers, David R. Yannetti and his associates may team up with our own investigators, forensic experts, and lab specialists to review and discover the weaknesses and inconsistencies in the prosecution’s version of events. Our attorneys may expose evidence that contradicts the prosecution’s theory, calling attention to corners that were cut in an investigation that should have been conducted differently. When your life or freedom is on the line, you need to retain an attorney who treats your case accordingly.
Call For A Free Consultation With A Suffolk County Assault Defense Lawyer
If you have been charged with assault or another crime of violence, we can help. Contact a Boston violent crimes defense attorney online or call 617-297-9213 for a free phone consultation.
Boston Murder Defense Lawyers
Few attorneys in Massachusetts have had as much experience handling murder cases as Boston murder defense attorney David R. Yannetti. He has tried twelve murder cases as lead counsel. Some of his murder trials have received national attention and been broadcast on Court TV and other networks from gavel to gavel.
Experienced Murder Defense From A Former Prosecutor
As a former homicide prosecutor, attorney Yannetti has learned from first-hand experience how law enforcement officials put a murder case together. He has been called to murder scenes in the middle of the night. He has personally witnessed how the police preserve evidence, how murder investigations unfold, and what techniques the police use. He has been at police stations when suspects and witnesses have been interrogated and questioned and did formerly, as a prosecutor, plan prosecution strategy.
Attorney Yannetti’s experience in putting the Commonwealth’s cases together now allows him to effectively attack the Commonwealth’s cases against his clients. He knows how things should be done. He will exploit for his clients any of the prosecution’s missteps and/or failures — mistakes which may have resulted in an unjust charge against his client. He handles all types of homicide cases, from motor vehicle homicide to manslaughter to first-degree murder cases and federal death-penalty cases.
Attacking The Evidence
In a murder case, you have the same defenses that are available to you in every case — but the stakes are considerably heightened. As a result, an attorney needs to do an extensive amount of investigation and discovery. An attorney must be well-versed in forensic evidence. He also must be skilled in both the direct and cross examinations of expert witnesses.
Some murder cases are whodunits. In these cases, a skillful lawyer may able to present an effective alibi defense. By calling alibi witnesses, or effectively pointing to scientific/forensic/trace evidence, an experienced defense attorney may successfully persuade a jury that his client was somewhere else when the murder occurred. Even without an affirmative alibi defense, a criminal defense attorney may be able to attack and/or suppress the photo array or lineup identification of the perpetrator. In so doing, an attorney can argue to the jury that reasonable doubt exists regarding his client’s presence at the murder scene.
A murder case may revolve around the issue of self-defense in a mutual combat situation. If a lawyer is successful in creating reasonable doubt as to whether a death was the result of self defense, the accused is entitled to a not guilty verdict. The Supreme Judicial Court has recently ruled that it is proper in these cases for a criminal defense lawyer to introduce evidence of the murder victim’s violent nature or past.
Sometimes it is clear a person committed the crime, but it’s also evident that the person was not in his or her right mind when he did it. That scenario may give rise to a “lack of criminal responsibility” defense, commonly known as an “insanity” defense. Even if a mental disease or defect does not rise to the level of insanity, a person’s impaired state of mind may help to convince a judge or jury that the murder charge should be reduced. For example, a person may have been under extreme stress or some other influence that prevented him from premeditating the crime. In that case, the charge could be reduced from first degree murder to second degree murder. If a person’s mind was impaired to a such a degree that he was unable to form the requisite “malice aforethought,” he might be found guilty of manslaughter, which has significantly reduced penalties.
Call For A Free Consultation With A Botson Homicide Defense Attorney
If you have been charged with homicide, you need dedicated legal representation. Contact a Boston murder defense lawyer David Yannetti online or call 617-297-9213 for a free phone consultation.
Massachusetts Assault With Intent To Murder Defense Lawyers
Armed assault with intent to murder is a major felony crime punishable by up to 20 years in state prison. This type of charge is usually brought in situations in which the alleged victim sustained a substantial physical injury. To bring this charge, prosecutors must prove that there was some type of a weapon involved in the commission of the crime, whether it was a gun, a knife, a pipe, or some other dangerous weapon. Many times these are circumstances in which a mutual fight may have escalated or where the accused was provoked, resulting in a stabbing, serious beating or shooting. If you have been charged with assault with intent to murder or armed assault with intent to murder, there is a lot at stake. That is why you need a Boston criminal defense attorney who can evaluate and defend your case properly.
Contact Boston Assault-with-intent-to-murder Defense Attorneys at the Yannetti Criminal Defense Law Firm today to receive a confidential and free phone consultation to discuss your case.
High Burden of Proof on Prosecutors
Assault with intent to murder is a particularly difficult charge for prosecutors to prove. Prosecutors have the burden of proving that at the time the injury was inflicted, the alleged perpetrator specifically intended to murder the victim. This is known in criminal law as a “specific intent” crime and is a higher degree of intent than general intent. Essentially, the intent in an assault with intent to murder charge is the same as the intent that is necessary to substantiate a murder charge. At trial, the prosecution will have to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed all elements of this crime in order to obtain a conviction. While these charges may originate in district court, they may not be resolved there unless the charges are reduced, because the district court has no jurisdiction over this crime. If the Commonwealth intends to prosecute this crime, therefore, it must indict the alleged perpetrator by presenting evidence to a grand jury. The case would then be prosecuted in Superior Court.
With such a high burden of proof, prosecutors will often try to use this charge as leverage. Their hope in those circumstances would be to intimidate a defendant into pleading guilty to a lesser crime. That is why it is so crucial that you have a Boston murder defense attorney who is not intimidated by prosecutors who bring such a serious charge to use it as a plea bargaining tool. Attorney David Yannetti and his associates are former prosecutors with years of extensive experience. They have a proven track record and will use their superior negotiation skills to help you plea to a lesser charge only if it is in your best interests and something you want to do. Otherwise, they will stand ready to fight the government for you by fiercely and intelligently defending you at trial. At the Yannetti Criminal Defense Law Firm, our attorneys are experienced enough to see through a case when it is brought only for intimidation purposes. We will thoroughly evaluate your case to determine the best plan of action.
Call For A Free Consultation With A Boston Murder Defense Attorney
If you have been accused of attempted murder, you need experienced legal help. Contact a Massachusetts criminal defense lawyer online or call 617-297-9213 for a free phone consultation.
Boston Armed Robbery Defense Lawyers
Although there are any number of fact scenarios that could lead to armed robbery charges, these cases generally fall into three categories:
- Stranger stick-up cases.
- Store or bank robberies where someone displays or mentions a weapon. Please note that in Massachusetts, you do not have to actually have a weapon to be charged with armed robbery. All you have to do is mention that you have a weapon — and thereby put an alleged victim in fear — and that could be sufficient for the charge.
- Robbery in a home, which actually transforms the crime in Massachusetts into “armed home invasion” or “armed burglary.”
Challenging The Prosecution’s Evidence
Many armed robbery cases are identification cases. In other words, the prosecutor’s key evidence comes from an alleged victim or an eyewitness viewing a photo array or a lineup and pointing out the suspect. In identification cases, there are certain procedural safeguards that have been put in place by both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts to make sure the identification was not unnecessarily suggestive, that the defendant received due process, and that his or her rights were preserved. Attorney Yannetti and his associates are experienced in handling identification cases and have successfully filed and argued motions to suppress identification evidence. A successful motion to suppress identification, of course, may leave the state with no case against you, and force the prosecutor to dismiss the charges entirely.
An experienced and skillful criminal defense attorney may also seek to suppress from evidence any weapon that was seized in connection with the alleged crime. The police must follow certain procedures under state and federal law when they conduct a search for a weapon. If the police failed to abide by those procedures, a motion to suppress evidence of a weapon could be successful. That, in turn, may force the Commonwealth to reduce the charge to unarmed robbery or larceny from a person — or may force the government to dismiss the charges altogether.
Discovery motions are critical for the defense of armed robbery cases. Early on, it is important to preserve evidence that might be lost, such as tapes from surveillance cameras. An experienced attorney realizes that the preserving evidence can make the difference between winning or losing a case.
The law, of course, is constantly changing in many areas. For years, prosecutors were able to call on ballistics experts to testify that a spent bullet recovered at a crime scene was fired by a particular firearm. Under a recent U.S. District Court ruling, an expert ballistician may no longer testify with such specificity and certainty. Now, the expert witness in federal court may only testify that there are markings on a bullet which are similar to those fired by a particular weapon. This is less powerful testimony and may be exploited by an experienced criminal defense attorney. Fingerprint evidence is facing similar legal challenges right now. In short, if you are charged with the serious crime of armed robbery, you should ensure that your attorney is experienced in these cases, and is up-to-date on recent case law. If you retain the Yannetti Criminal Defense Law Firm, you will have that assurance.
Call For A Free Consultation With A Concord Home Invasion Defense Attorney
If you are facing charged in connection with a home invasion or another type of robbery, get legal help as soon as possible. Contact a Boston armed robbery defense lawyer online or call 617-297-9213 for a free phone consultation.
If you have a previous conviction for a felony crime and are found to have knowingly possessed a firearm you are likely to face federal criminal charges. The potential consequences of such a charge are severe and can result in a decades long prison sentence. That is why retaining experienced legal counsel who understand the federal criminal justice system is so important.
Boston felon in possession of a firearm defense lawyer David Yannetti and his associates have nearly 50 years of combined legal experience. Mr. Yannetti is a former prosecutor who understands how the government is likely to build its case against you. He will use this knowledge to help you build the strongest possible defense against these criminal charges.
The Amount of Time Between a Conviction and a New Charge is Meaningless
Many people assume that a decades-old conviction will no longer “count” when it comes to owning a firearm. However, that is simply not the case. You can be convicted of a felony as an eighteen-year-old and find that you have later run afoul of the law well into adulthood as a result of being caught with a firearm.
Attorney Yannetti will thoroughly investigate the circumstances leading up to your charge. Perhaps the weapon belonged to someone else and you were unaware of its presence. Perhaps the police improperly gathered evidence or otherwise violated your rights. Mr. Yannetti and his associates will work tirelessly to provide you with a strong defense that is designed to achieve the best possible results.
Call For A Free Consultation With A Suffolk County 2nd Amendment Rights Attorney
If you have a felony record and are found to be in possession of a firearm, you need legal help immediately. Contact a Boston felon in possession of firearm defense attorney online or call 617-297-9213 for a free phone consultation.
