In what is a significant development for juveniles offenders accused of unlawful possession of a firearm (not at home or work), the Supreme Judicial Court entered a decision today affirming the Boston Juvenile Court's decision to grant a continuance without a finding to my client last year. Issuing its decision under a pseudonym, Commonwealth v. Quahir Q., the Court's decision tracks the reasons I provided to the Juvenile Court and the SJC throughout this case. I also want

It probably comes as no surprise that if you’re reading a blog on my site, much of my practice involves representing individuals charged with violating the Commonwealth’s myriad firearm laws. I want to briefly discuss some of my concerns about situations that repeatedly arise when people are charged with improper storage of a firearm. Gun accidently left on seat-accident or criminal act? The statute, M.G.L. c. 140, § 131L(a) provides: “It shall be unlawful to store or keep a

I have received a number of curious inquiries about the case that was being argued at the Supreme Judicial Court last week. Here I will...

Too frequently legislation is passed that is simply worthless, advanced to solely demonstrate the politicians' obsequious need to show they are doing somethin g about the issue du jour . However, in 2018, the Massachusetts legislature enacted St. 2018, Ch. 69, § 195 which included the basic provisions of expungement. As usual this legislation had to be revised soon thereafter to address defects, and this was done in 2020 by St. 2020, Ch. 253, § 98. The expungement provisi

In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as many know, the unlicensed possession of a firearm of any type outside of the home or place of...

Historically, in Massachusetts few options were available to those convicted of crimes trying to remove an offense from their records. ...

This week the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued a decision that should please anyone who wants to keep government theft to a...

An interesting defense to criminal allegations is that of "necessity". Courts have long recognized that in certain instances it may be...

In prior blog entries I have discussed options to restore one's right to possess a firearm in Massachusetts after a disqualifying...

In the last week, two important decisions were issued by trial courts in Massachusetts which hopefully signal significant improvement for...

Lately I've helped with many situations in which people came to me to figure out their options for legal possession of a firearm after...