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Articles Posted in Clerk-Magistrate Hearings

Shoplifting and Larceny Clerk-Magistrate Hearings in Massachusetts: Why the Criminal Record Matters More Than the Fine
Attorney Joe Serpa

Massachusetts shoplifting and larceny cases often begin with a private clerk-magistrate hearing before any criminal complaint or arraignment. The immediate question is whether the clerk-magistrate will issue a complaint and start a public criminal case. If the application is denied, no complaint issues, no arraignment occurs, and that application creates no Criminal Offender Record Information…

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I Received a Show Cause Notice in Massachusetts. What Do I Do?
Attorney Joe Serpa

By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | Massachusetts Criminal Defense Since 1995 A Massachusetts show cause notice means that someone has applied for a criminal complaint and the court has scheduled a clerk-magistrate hearing. The notice is not an arrest warrant, a conviction, or a criminal complaint. It is an opportunity to…

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Student Fake ID Cases in Boston: Enforcement and the Summons
Attorney Joe Serpa

By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | Massachusetts Criminal Defense Since 1995 A Massachusetts fake ID case in Boston or Cambridge often begins at a clerk-magistrate hearing, before a criminal complaint or arraignment. The hearing is private. It does not itself create a public criminal case or a Criminal Offender Record Information…

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Greater Boston Criminal Law Alerts

The Lindsay Clancy Trial: A Cruel and Tone Deaf Prosecution

A prosecutor decides not only what to prove but how to speak about the person sitting at the defense table. In the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Commonwealth told the jury in its opening statement and again in closing that she was a murderer who coldly wanted to see her own children dead. It called…

The Lindsay Clancy Jury Dispute: When Massachusetts Law Permits Removal of a Deliberating Juror

Massachusetts law does not permit a trial judge to remove a deliberating juror merely because the other eleven jurors believe that person is wrong. Once deliberations begin, the judge may discharge a juror only after a hearing establishes an emergency, another compelling reason, or a demonstrated inability to perform the duties of a juror. Disagreement…

Filming Jurors in the Lindsay Clancy Trial and Massachusetts Witness Intimidation Law

An arrest after the alleged filming of jurors in the Lindsay Clancy trial raises separate questions under the witness-intimidation, evidence-tampering, contempt, and wiretap laws. This analysis applies each rule without presuming the allegations are true.

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