Violent Crime Defense Attorney Massachusetts

Violent crime charges in Massachusetts range from assault to homicide, carrying penalties that include mandatory minimum state prison sentences and lasting consequences. We defend individuals facing assault and battery, domestic violence, kidnapping, and other violent crime charges throughout Greater Boston and Eastern Massachusetts.

Being charged with a violent crime is serious, and is scary. We have defended people facing violent crime charges for over 30 years in Massachusetts courts.

Call (978) 969-2890 for a free consultation.

If you are looking at charging documents right now, the specific violent crime charge matters more than you might think. Massachusetts treats each type of violent offense differently, and the difference between charges can mean the difference between a misdemeanor and decades in state prison. What began as a single incident can sometimes result in multiple charges filed together, each carrying its own penalties and its own path to a defense.

Massachusetts recognizes violent crime charges ranging from "simple" assault, assault and battery, to kidnapping, mayhem, home invasion, and homicide, with penalties that vary dramatically based on the specific charge, whether a weapon was involved, and the extent of any injury that resulted from the incident.

You are not the first person to sit with this. We have defended people facing exactly these charges, good people whose lives were upended by an accusation. If it helps to see how some of those cases actually went, you can read about some of them here.
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Assault and battery is the most commonly charged violent offense in Massachusetts, with penalties ranging from a misdemeanor for a single unwanted touch to a felony carrying up to 15 years in state prison where a dangerous weapon is used and the assault causes serious bodily injury or involves another aggravating circumstance the statute names.

Whether the charge is simple assault and battery, an aggravated version, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, or strangulation depends on factors that can significantly change your exposure.

Go More about assault and battery defense.

When the alleged victim is a family or household member, Massachusetts prosecutes the charge as domestic assault and battery under a distinct statute with its own procedures. One of those procedures catches people off guard: if you are 18 or older and arrested on a domestic charge, bail cannot be set out of court for six hours after your arrest, though a judge sitting in open court can release you sooner. The Commonwealth also has a prosecution policy that often pursues these cases even when the alleged victim does not want to proceed.

Go More about domestic assault and battery defense.

Homicide charges carry the most severe consequences in the Massachusetts criminal justice system. Upon conviction of first-degree murder, the sentence is life in state prison. Whether parole is ever possible turns on how old the person was on the date of the offense: someone who was 21 or older faces life without the possibility of parole, while someone who was 18, 19, or 20 becomes eligible for parole consideration after serving a minimum term set by the court. Manslaughter carries significant state prison exposure. A person charged with murder is almost always held without bail while the case proceeds.

Even in cases where someone is killed in a car accident, where the death wasn't intended, a defendant can be facing significant state prison time.
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Go More about murder and homicide defense.

Kidnapping charges often arise from domestic disputes, custody conflicts, or confrontations that escalated further than either person intended, not just from stranger abductions. Charges range from a base offense up to enhanced penalties requiring a state prison sentence of not less than 25 years where the offense is committed while armed with a dangerous weapon and results in serious bodily injury or sexual assault.

Also, a conviction for kidnapping of a child under the age of 16 is treated as a sex offense for registration purposes, which means mandatory sex offender registration even if no sexual activity was involved.

Go More about kidnapping defense.

Mayhem charges apply to two distinct types of conduct: maiming or disfiguring a specific body part, such as an eye, ear, nose, lip, or limb, or assaulting someone with a dangerous weapon, substance, or chemical that disfigures, cripples, or causes serious or permanent injury.

The prosecution must prove malicious intent to maim or disfigure, not just that a serious injury occurred. Upon conviction, mayhem carries a penalty of up to 20 years in state prison, or a fine of up to $1,000 and up to two and a half years in jail. Mayhem is charged far less often than other violent offenses, but when it is, the Commonwealth treats it as among the most serious assault charges because of the severity of the alleged injury.

Witness intimidation charges frequently arise alongside domestic violence and other criminal cases, often from conduct far less dramatic than a direct threat. Massachusetts law criminalizes threatening, misleading, intimidating, or harassing a witness, juror, police officer, or family member of any of these people, with intent to interfere with a criminal or civil proceeding.

Simply urging someone not to call the police or not to cooperate with an investigation can support this charge.

Upon conviction, witness intimidation carries up to 10 years in state prison, or up to two and a half years in the house of correction, or a fine of $1,000 to $5,000.

If the underlying proceeding involves a crime punishable by life imprisonment, a conviction can carry up to 20 years in state prison, up to two and a half years in the house of correction, or a fine of up to $10,000

Home invasion is among the most severely punished offenses in Massachusetts law, applying when someone knowingly enters another person's home while armed with a dangerous weapon, knowing or having reason to know someone is inside, and uses or threatens force against a person within, or intentionally causes injury.

Upon conviction, the statute requires a state prison sentence of not less than 20 years, and permits a sentence of up to life. It provides no house of correction option and no fine.

More about home invasion defense.

Stalking and criminal harassment both involve a pattern of conduct directed at a specific person that causes serious alarm, but they are prosecuted differently. Stalking requires the prosecution to prove a threat intended to place the person in imminent fear of death or bodily injury. A first offense carries up to 5 years in state prison, or up to two and a half years in the house of correction, or a fine of up to $1,000. Where the stalking occurs in violation of a qualifying protective order, a conviction carries a mandatory minimum of one year and a maximum of five. On a second or subsequent offense, the mandatory minimum is two years and the maximum is ten. In both of those situations the statute does not permit the case to be continued without a finding, and the mandatory portion of the sentence cannot be suspended. Criminal harassment does not require a threat. A first offense carries up to two and a half years in the house of correction, or a fine of up to $5,000. A repeat offense, or an offense committed after a stalking conviction, carries up to two and a half years in the house of correction or up to 10 years in state prison, and a fine of up to $15,000.

More about the Massachusetts stalking statute.

We know you are already thinking about what this charge could mean for your life. The answer depends heavily on which specific violent crime charge is on your paperwork, since Massachusetts treats these offenses very differently from one another.

A misdemeanor assault and battery charge carries exposure of up to two and a half years in the house of correction, or a fine of up to $1,000. Felony charges carry far more. Upon conviction, aggravated assault and battery carries up to 5 years in state prison, or up to two and a half years in the house of correction, or a fine of up to $5,000. Assault and battery with a dangerous weapon carries up to 10 years in state prison, or up to two and a half years in the house of correction, or a fine of up to $5,000. That exposure rises to up to 15 years in state prison, or up to two and a half years in the house of correction, or a fine of up to $10,000, where the assault with a dangerous weapon causes serious bodily injury or involves another aggravating circumstance the statute names. Kidnapping carries up to 10 years in state prison upon conviction, or a fine of up to $1,000 and up to two years in jail, and where the offense is committed while armed with a firearm the statute requires a state prison sentence of not less than 10 years, though it also permits a house of correction sentence of up to two and a half years instead. Mayhem carries up to 20 years in state prison upon conviction, or a fine of up to $1,000 and up to two and a half years in jail.

Homicide charges carry the most severe consequences in the Commonwealth. Upon conviction of first-degree murder, the sentence is life in state prison, and whether parole is ever available depends on the person's age at the time of the offense.

Beyond incarceration, a conviction for any violent crime creates lasting consequences: loss of firearm rights, employment difficulties in fields requiring background checks, immigration consequences for non-citizens, and, in domestic violence and strangulation cases, mandatory completion of a lengthy certified batterer's intervention program. These collateral consequences often affect your life as much as the sentence itself.

None of this is inevitable. Every one of these outcomes depends on a conviction, and a strong defense from the outset can change what happens next.

Right now it may feel like there are no options. There are. It may feel like your fate is determined just by being charged. It isn't.

Massachusetts law allows you to use reasonable force, and in some circumstances deadly force, to protect yourself or another person if you reasonably believed you faced imminent danger of serious harm. Whether the force used was proportional to the threat is often the central question in these cases.

Many violent crime statutes require proof of specific intent, whether to maim, to extort, to confine against someone's will, or to place someone in fear. If the Commonwealth cannot prove the required intent beyond a reasonable doubt, even where physical contact or an alarming pattern of conduct occurred, the charge cannot stand.

Violent crime allegations frequently arise from chaotic situations, such as fights, domestic disputes, or brief encounters where identification of people is unreliable. False accusations arise with real frequency in relationship breakdowns and custody disputes where the accuser has a motive to exaggerate or fabricate.

For assault and battery charges arising from physical altercations, sporting activity, or mutual combat, evidence that the alleged victim consented to the contact can defeat the charge.

If police violated your rights during the investigation, arrest, or questioning, evidence obtained as a result might be suppressed. If the Commonwealth's evidence at trial is unreliable, incomplete, or does not match its own theory of the case, you are entitled to an acquittal.

When someone is charged with a violent offense (assault, assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, or similar charges) one of the most misunderstood parts of the case is "intent." Many people assume that if an injury occurred, someone must have "meant" to cause it. Under Massachusetts law, that's not how it works. In most violent crime cases, the prosecution must prove intent as an actual element of the offense, beyond a reasonable doubt.

Intent refers to a person's conscious objective or purpose in acting, not simply the outcome of what happened. Massachusetts law distinguishes between different levels of intent depending on the charge:

● General Intent. The prosecution must show the defendant intended to commit the physical act itself (for example, the touching involved in a battery), without necessarily intending the specific harm that resulted. Many assault and battery charges fall into this category.

● Specific Intent. Some charges require proof that the defendant intended a particular result, such as assault with intent to murder or assault with intent to maim. These carry a higher burden of proof for the prosecution.

Because no one can see directly into another person's mind, intent is almost always proven circumstantially, through words, actions, and the surrounding circumstances, rather than through a direct admission. In violent crime cases, this is often the heart of the dispute. What looks like intentional aggression to a responding officer or bystander may look very different once the full picture is examined: self-defense, defense of another, sudden provocation, accident, or a rapidly escalating situation with no time to form intent at all.
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Because intent is inferred rather than proven directly, it is frequently one of the most contestable, and most defensible, issues in a violent crime case. A thorough defense will closely examine:

●        Whether the prosecution can actually prove intent beyond a reasonable doubt, or is relying on assumptions about what "must have" happened

●        Whether the evidence supports self-defense, defense of another, or accident rather than intentional conduct

● Whether mental health, medical conditions, or the chaotic nature of the incident affected the ability to form the required intent

Intent is frequently the contested element in these cases. Where the Commonwealth's evidence of intent rests on how a situation appeared to someone who arrived partway through it, that evidence can be tested. Testing it early matters, because witness memory fades and records do not stay available forever.

We know that violent crime allegations often look very different once the full context is understood, including who acted first, what led up to the incident, and whether the response was reasonable under the circumstances. The difference between "intent" and "reaction" can be the difference between a conviction and a dismissal.
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Every case is different. Call (978) 969-2890 to discuss your situation and your options.

If you have just been arrested, received a summons, or learned that police want to question you, take a breath. Here is what you need to do right now.

● Don't talk to police without a lawyer present. This is the single most important step
● Don't discuss your case with anyone except your attorney, including family members
● Don't contact the alleged victim or anyone connected to the allegations
● Don't post anything about your case or the allegations on social media
● Preserve any evidence that might support your account: texts, emails, photos, records
● Write down everything you remember about the relevant events while the details are fresh
● Follow all court orders and conditions of release exactly
● Contact an experienced Massachusetts violent crimes defense attorney immediately
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‍The most important thing you can do right now is protect yourself by not speaking to anyone about your case and calling an experienced attorney. We are available 24/7 at (978) 969-2890.

The earlier we can evaluate the evidence and preserve what helps your defense, the more options we have.