Articles Posted in Trial Practice and Evidence

By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | 30 Years Massachusetts Criminal Defense You are arrested on a Saturday night after an argument at home. You are arraigned Monday morning, and your lawyer gives you the advice every defense lawyer gives. Do not talk about the case. Not to police, not to the…

By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | 30 Years Massachusetts Criminal Defense A dangerousness hearing under M.G.L. c. 276, § 58A is one of the most consequential proceedings in Massachusetts criminal law. A judge can order a defendant held in custody without bail for as long as 120 days in the district…

By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | 30 Years Massachusetts Criminal Defense Updated July 2026 The drug cases I am proudest of never reached a jury. They ended earlier, at a clerk-magistrate hearing, on a motion to suppress, or in a disposition that avoided a conviction altogether. That is not luck. In…

By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | 30 Years Massachusetts Criminal Defense June 2026 An arrest in Massachusetts sets off a sequence of procedural events that moves faster than most people expect. Under Massachusetts law, a person taken into custody must be brought before a court for arraignment at the court’s next…