Attorney Joe Serpa has defended criminal cases in the Massachusetts District Courts and Boston Municipal Court since 1995. These posts cover Massachusetts criminal law as it is practiced. Mr. Serpa explains statutes, case law, court-by-court procedure, and how charges are defended and resolved. These pages are written for defendants, licensed professionals, students, tradespeople, and non-citizens who need to understand what a Massachusetts criminal charge means and what the defense options are.
Chapter 65 raised the lawful adult marijuana limit outside the home to two ounces and extended civil treatment through three ounces. The new limits affect possession, gifts, vehicle searches, charging decisions, and criminal records, but they do not authorize unlicensed sales or change federal immigration law.
Continue reading ›By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | Massachusetts Criminal Defense Since 1995 A motion to suppress and a motion to dismiss are the two filings that can end a criminal case before a jury hears anything. Other motions can be important in getting to a good outcome. These two can produce an…
Continue reading ›By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | Massachusetts Criminal Defense Since 1995 Most of the expert work in my cases is never heard by a jury. An expert who reads a laboratory file and tells me the analyst skipped a step has changed the case, and has done it without putting a…
Continue reading ›By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | Massachusetts Criminal Defense Since 1995 By the time a jury is empaneled, most of the work that will decide the case is finished. What was gathered, what was tested, and what was excluded in the months before set the limits on what either side can…
Continue reading ›By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | Massachusetts Criminal Defense Since 1995 The closing argument is the only time in a Massachusetts criminal trial when I get to say what the evidence means. Everything before it is questions. This is the one stretch where I speak in complete sentences to the jurors…
Continue reading ›By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | Massachusetts Criminal Defense Since 1995 Most of the objecting I do in a criminal trial happens before the jury walks in. By the time the first witness is sworn, the evidence I care about has usually been argued in writing, in front of the judge,…
Continue reading ›By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | Massachusetts Criminal Defense Since 1995 Almost every client asks me the same question in the first meeting: when do I get to tell my side. The honest answer is that in most trials the client never does, and that the case is usually better for…
Continue reading ›By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | Massachusetts Criminal Defense Since 1995 The opening statement is the only time in the trial when jurors who know nothing about the case will listen to me without interruption. They have just been told the defendant is presumed innocent, and most of them do not…
Continue reading ›By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | Massachusetts Criminal Defense Since 1995 A criminal trial is decided by people I have never met, and I get one short conversation to learn who they are. Empanelment is the only part of the case where I am gathering information instead of testing it. By…
Continue reading ›The Supreme Judicial Court and the Appeals Court issued ten criminal decisions between July 29 and August 26, 2026. Several change how a pending case is litigated in the District Court, the Boston Municipal Court, and the Superior Court, and two of them order new trials. This survey states what each court held and explains…
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