Dorchester College Student Is Arrested For Bringing Gun To School

A Dorchester college student is currently being held without bail after being arraigned at Dedham District Court. According to law enforcement, the lad, Darryl Max Dookhran, 18, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) was carrying a semi-automatic firearm in his backpack at Massachusetts Bay Community College in

According to the Wellesley police, detectives acted on a tip that the Defendant had the gun. They say that they then approached the Defendant as he was standing in line at the registrar's office. They then walked him into a nearby room. The Commonwealth says that the Defendant, upon this confrontation, backed against a wall and then kicked at detectives when they attempted to pat him down.

What followed, according to the Commonwealth is described as a “furious struggle with police”

Detectives say they found a Tec-9 gun in his backpack, with a loaded 18-round magazine.

He apparently says that it is not his gun and he has no idea how it got into his backpack.

He stands charged with a number of crimes, including possession of a large capacity firearm, being a felon in possession of a firearm, illegal possession of a firearm, possession of a high-capacity ammunition clip, and resisting arrest.

Attorney Sam’s Take:

This is a classic example of someone making their situation worse.

First of all, there is no question that the prosecution was not going to believe that the mysterious machine gun simply appeared in the Defendant’s backpack unbeknownst to him.

However, if the Defendant had any hope of arguing to a jury that he did not know about the gun, he has made it even harder on himself by struggling with the police.

First of all, struggling with the police has earned him another criminal charge. It has also given the Commonwealth additional evidence of “consciousness of guilt”. If the Defendant did not believe he had something to hide, why struggle with the police?

Of course, people who are used to the criminal justice system know that there may be many reasons why someone would struggle with the police. However, a jury is not likely to be so versed. They will simply go to the most obvious reason….that he knew he was being caught with his gun.

The Defendant clearly has other criminal justice issues beyond this case. At the ripe old age of 18, he has already been convicted of a felony.

“So, Sam, there is no defense?”

You know me better than that if you are a regular reader to this daily blog.

First of all, there may well be search and seizure issues regarding the recovery of the gun. Should the defense be successful in challenging the seizure of the gun, the gun will be suppressed. This means that the Commonwealth will not be able to use it against him. No gun…..no case. I suppose The prosecutor might still be able to go for resisting arrest, but that is the least of the Defendant’s problems at the moment in terms of a potential prison sentence.

I wonder what the Defendant’s prior case was about. Could it have had something to do with an assault? What if it were and, as an aftermath, the Defendant still had some enemies out there? Most people know that being found in possession of a gun is big trouble. Many people know that if you are found in possession of the gun and you have already been convicted of a felony that is even more trouble. Of course, if the Defendant is still on some kind of probation from that earlier felony, which is quite likely, this arrest in and of itself is a violation of probation and is enough to send him to prison.

Of course, in this modern era, tests may be able to be performed on the gun to check for
fingerprints, hair or DNA on the gun to see if anything matches the Defendant..

The bottom line is that the Defendant is in a lot of trouble. Trouble that could forever alter any plans he had for the future. This means it could not get much more serious.

If he has not already, my suggestion would be to get an experienced criminal defense attorney to guide and defend him.

If you have a criminal case and would like to discuss it with me, , please feel to call me to arrange a free initial consultation at 617-492-3000.

To view the original stories, please go to : http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2011/02/mass_bay_studen.html and http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/

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Massachusetts School Districts Break Bullying Law-Attorney Sam’s Take

Massachusetts bullying is not simply old news these days. As predicted, many people have made the mistake of assuming that the rushed so-called “anti-bullying” statute would solve the problem. They figured that the schools, following the clear
guidance our elected officials presented would take care of it.
It didn’t. Maybe because the “guidance” presented was anything but clear.
To date, more than a third of Massachusetts school districts have failed to present complete antibullying plans by the end of 2010. This deadline was one of the few clear and presumed urgent things presented by the law, but why quibble? These figures, by the way, were by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
On the other hand, some school districts have
complied... sort of. In 13 percent of those plans, at least a quarter of the elements required by the law were not clearly addressed.
If I may add a little note here...since the legislative “cure all”, I have actually seen a growth
of calls regarding severe bullying problems about which the schools seem to have turned a blind eye...no matter what evidence was placed before said eye. An example of how bad the problem is can be illustrated by the simplest of requirements of the new law, namely, contacting parents of the kids involved. Even this seemingly simple exercise seems to be too much for the schools to handle.
Elizabeth Englander, the director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State University, who helped shape the law, seems to have escaped disillusionment. She explains “This was always going to be a work in progress...I think I was operating on the assumption that maybe half of the schools would really get it right the first time.’’
One can certainly understand how difficult requirements like contacting parents would be something that would take several tries to get right.
Of course, private schools have not failed to perform as required. The “strongest anti-bullying law in the country”, as the lawmakers had dubbed it, does not include private schools, with the exception of schools for special education students.
You might think that failing to comply with the law would bring about its own penalties for the school districts. After all, this was considered urgent legislation pushed through in answer to bullying victims' suicides.
Nope. No penalty.
Some people believe that, since school board members are elected, they should be punished by removal or lack of votes for not complying.
Maybe. We’ll see.
The problem of bullying or violent kids may be changing, however. It seems to be getting worse.
A new study suggests that the longer teenager from abroad live in the United States, the more likely they are to become violent.
The study, by Northeastern University researchers who surveyed hundreds of Boston teenagers, found that local high school students who arrived recently from foreign countries are significantly less violent than their American-born counterparts. However, the researchers found that as the immigrant teens spend more time in the United States, their behavior deteriorates.
What surprised researchers at Northeastern was how quickly youths who came to the United States began adopting bullying and violent behavior.
“Within a matter of four years of being in this country, the youths’ rates of violence were converging with those of us born here,’’ said Joanna Almeida, associate research scientist at Northeastern’s Institute of Urban Health Research. “It’s not even that it takes a generation. It’s happening within a handful of years.’’

Community leaders who work with young immigrants said the study confirmed what they already knew.

Valerie Batts, executive director of Visions Inc., a Roxbury-based group that promotes diversity, said young men born outside the country who have participated in the group’s programs have said they felt they needed to bully others, and even carry a gun, to avoid becoming victims.
As an experienced Boston criminal defense attorney, I howled in this blog when there was suddenly a movement, led by a, now, ex-district attorney to solve this problem with felony indictments. I warned that, in the overnight creation of anti-bullying bill would virtually force schools to do nothing about bullying but pass the problem over to law enforcement. I argued that this would ruin many lives.
What I did not expect was that so many of the schools would simply do nothing.
The law itself, which I have also criticized in the past, is unduly vague. It was the product of politicians not wanting to be outdone by elected prosecutors and so wanting to seem “tough on crime”. What they came up with was this overnight mishmash.

In short, it was what I would expect them to come up with in so short a time.
But schools are different. They are supposed to be experts in dealing with these issues. For them to do next to nothing, if not actually nothing, to obey the new law would be as unforgivable as the lawmakers providing no penalty for breaking the law.
Oops, sorry. That’s what happened, isn’t it?
Having no leadership from lawmakers or schools, I wonder how kids will handle the bullying problem.
Actually, that is not true. It is quite clear how they are handling it. And new American kids are learning the environment, and how to survive in it, very quickly.

So, what does this have to do with you?
Plenty, if you are either a student or care about one. I have seen a number of cases where students, like those mentioned above, feel they must bully or else be bullied. However, as these situation tend to escalate, the original victim, thinking they are merely surviving, may breach the criminal law. Or should I say that they could be the one who gets caught.

So, if there is a bullying problem in which you are involved, on either side, it is best to hire experienced counsel. Students can, and will, be wrongfully accused. Others may have a back story to explain the situation. Further, others may be getting tired of being the victim in a microcosm which is doing little to help them and be about to take matters into their own hands.
All this while we remain complacent because our “daring” law makers rushed a law that was incredibly vague and had no teeth which is virtually ignored by many schools.
After all, it is our kids we are talking about.

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Swampscott And Marblehead Explode Into High School Student Violence- Attorney Sam’s Take

Marblehead Massachusetts is not normally thought of as the assault capital of the Commonwealth. Neither is Swampscott for that matter. However, one week ago today, there was an explosion of violence between kids from these towns...complete with dangerous weapons.

Now, we are not talking Boston here, so the weapons are not uzis or other types of firearms. They included primarily baseball bats, pipes and chains.

I am told by one high school juvenile that the fight had actually been scheduled to take place outside the Marblehead High School. However, authorities learned about it before it had a chance to commence and made the kids leave.

The ignited spark of anger was not extinguished by the change in venue, however. It simply moved to a regularly quiet residential street. And then...boom!

The cause of the fight? I am told that a young gentleman of one town made some passes at a young lady of the other town. Unfortunately, said lass had a boyfriend from her own town.

The press coverage of this has not been great. If not for the fact that I live in the area, I might not never have found out about the brawl.

There is a video of the event on the web page listed below. Part of the description was apparently one of those present. I will leave the more vivid description to that person’s posted words:

Shit just got real in the hood motherfucker! Jets vs. Sharks for real. Pipes and bats and shit. Blood in the streets. People getting carried out in stretchers. That’s how we do in the barrio. Straight gangsta living. Big Blue vs. Marblehead. Bloods vs. Crips. Doesn’t get any more real than that son. I just thank my lucky stars everyday that I kept my head down, stayed out trouble and made it out of there alive. Wasn’t easy though. Hard knock life will wear you down.

And so, we have another example of how such a “hard knock life”, in Marblehead no less, will “wear you down”.

I am told, however, that by the time the kids were scattered, there were hospitalizations and a great deal of blood at the scene of the violence.

Over my many years as an experienced criminal defense attorney, I have handled various criminal matters around the Commonwealth. Yes, this would include the North Shore towns of Swampscott and Marblehead. However, violence to this extent is not typical there.

On the other hand, times are indeed changing. I have watched as the nature of crime in the Commonwealth has taken on some of the characteristics that I observed as a prosecutor in New York. As that happens, what exists in the cities tends to move out to the suburbs.

Is this a coming trend? Please be assured that law enforcement will do what they can to prevent the growth of such things. So will prosecutors and judges. This generally means a “no tolerance” policy which sometimes spells out tougher sentences on the young defendants than one would expect.

Any such criminal action which brings a juvenile to an arraignment will likely have drastic repercussions on his or her future.

If it ever was, it is no longer a joke. Just Kids” is not much of a defense these days.

What is?

That depends. The best person to answer that would be an experienced criminal defense attorney acquainted with the given case.. If you or your child are looking at criminal allegations, do not assume that if you just cooperate with the prosecution all will be well. Get protection. Get an experienced criminal defense attorney to guide and defend you and yours.

We all want to end violence, particularly when it comes to kids. But you may not want to aid the cause by sacrificing your child to it as an "example"..

If you want to discuss such a case with me, feel free to call me for a free initial consultation. I can be reached at t 617-492-3000.

To view the original story, and charming photograph about which parts of this blog were based, please go to : http://boston.barstoolsports.com/random-thoughts/marblehead-vs-swampscott-rivalry-escalates-to-gigantic-street-brawl/

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Brookline High School Students Are Accused Of Threatening To Commit Mass Murder-Attorney Sam’s Take

While Massachusetts schools have been struggling with ways in which to comply with the over-arching and extremely broad anti-bullying law, a couple of students at Brookline High School have apparently been doing their own planning. According to officials, that planning would include a mass homicide.

The students allegedly posted on Facebook plans to meet after school and commit the deed according to the prosecution. They indicated online that they could use gallons of gasoline and use thousands of syringes full of bear tranquilizers. When one of the lads suggested shooting some guns at proposed victims, the other genius responded that he was “way ahead of you,’’.

Brookline police searched the homes of both students and seized their computers, but have not found any weapons, according to police..

The pair were arrested on Wednesday after one of their fathers became aware of the cyber-conversation and, apparently, felt that it would be better that his son end up in trouble…than dead or culpable for mass murder.

In court, one of the defense attorneys argued that the comments were only a joke.

The two students have each pleaded not guilty to charges of threatening to commit a crime and conspiracy to commit a crime. Brookline District Court Judge Patricia Curtin had a funny retort to the show of “humor”.

She ordered each of them held on $10,000 bail, barred them from using any computers, and told them to stay away from all Brookline schools.

From The Trenches:

As an experienced Boston – based criminal defense attorney for many years, I have watched as the tolerance for such “jokes” has fallen from slim to none.

These are the days after Columbine. Since then, school shootings have seemed to be an epidemic. Just a few weeks ago, a school board in Florida were threatened by a gunman (caught on video, no less) until he started shooting and then dying himself.

As I have stated in the past, I feel our reaction to recent stories of bullying is unwise. The reaction to things like potential threats to commit mass murder is taken seriously and it should be. Deadly seriously.

Too many kids have ended up dead when we didn’t.

There may be some legal hurdles for the “threats count” that the prosecution to climb. Normally, such cases involve threats made by one person to another against that other. However, the conspiracy count could stick.

“But, Sam, what about the First Amendment right to free speech?”

While I think we have eroded that particular right greatly, I would say it would not apply. You never could yell “Fire!” in a crowded room. It is very arguable that planning mass murder for all to see is comparable.

I have handled a number of these types of cases and can tell you that even suspected more veiled threats passed back and forth between friends which are more clearly a “joke” are prosecuted today.

The problem is that many of us do not understand how times have changed in this regard. That makes it difficult to warn our kids who may not be thinking in these terms. Kids have imagination and are just learning how to use it. They do not understand the legal implications and they cannot learn about it if the adults do not tell them.

Folks, I think we have some learning to do out there.

In the meantime, if you or your child are already caught in the sites of the criminal justice system, you should engage the services of a defense attorney who is experienced in this area immediately. It could mean the difference between losing custody of your child, having that child receive a juvenile or criminal record that will haunt him for years…or even more tragic results.

If you would like to discuss such a matter with me, please feel free to call me to arrange a free initial consultation at 617-492-3000.

In the meantime, have a great, safe and law-abiding weekend!

To view the original story in which parts of this blog were based, please go to : http://mobile.boston.com/art/30/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/01/07/brookline_high_school_students_held_in_alleged__threats/

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