Attorney Wood achieved the speedy release in Massachusetts of a client who was held, without bail, on a fugitive from justice complaint (out-of-state warrant). He then assisted the client in quickly dismissing the various pending criminal complaints that had previously hindered his release.
Trial, Juvenile, and SORB Representation
Wood & Nathanson represents individuals in many areas related to criminal charges. Recently Wood & Nathanson attorneys became members of the Committee for Public Counsel Services panels for trial representation, juvenile delinquency appeals, and sex offender registry board representation. Attorney Shih will represent adult criminal defendants in Suffolk County trial courts, Attorney Ward will represent people before the SORB, and Attorney Jellison will represent juveniles in appeals from delinquency trials.
Abolish Felony Murder
On April 18, 2017, Attorney Wood and a team from Foley Hoag, LLP filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Judicial Court arguing for the abolition of the felony murder rule. The rule, which holds defendants strictly liable for any death that occurs as a result of a felony they commit, divorces moral culpability from criminal liability. The result in Massachusetts can be life without parole for unintended or accidental killings. The rule is disproportionate, unfair, and should be abandoned. Read the brief here.
Innocence Network Conference
On March 23-26, Attorney Wood accompanied his client Nat Cosenza to the 2017 National Innocence Network Conference in San Diego. The conference gave exonerees a chance to connect to one another for support and to share their experiences so that attorneys and others in the innocence community could better understand how wrongful convictions occur, how to prevent them, and the challenges that exonerees face even after regaining their freedom. An article about Nat's experience at the conference can be found here.
New Blog Post Up on Research Resources
Based on Attorney Nathanson's 2016 presentation to the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, our new blog post provides creative ideas for mostly free online legal and scientific research.
Resources for Research
Below you will find links to some great (and free) resources for creative and effective legal writing.
First, always use your public library! Most provide free access to excellent online academic databases including Academic OneFile.
Scientific and medical information can be found at: Pubmed (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/advanced) and Pubmed Central (full text) (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/).
Sign up for notifications regarding the latest law-related neuroscience publications here: http://www.lawneuro.org/listserv.php.
Keep abreast of current and developing issues at the Supreme Court using Cert Pool (http://certpool.com) and Seton Hall's law review focusing on splits of opinion among the federal courts of appeal (http://scholarship.shu.edu/circuit_review/).
Great resources for full text historical legal writings and original documents include The Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/texts), Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) and Yale University's Avalon Project (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/default.asp). Others include:
- Federalist Papers: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/histdox/fedpapers.html
- Collections of the Founders: http://founders.archives.gov/
- Historical legal dictionaries: https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/559416
And great general purpose research tools include:
- Massachusetts Trial Court Libraries: http://www.mass.gov/courts/case-legal-res/law-lib/libraries/services/
- Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/
- Stanford University's guide to low or no cost legal research: https://law.stanford.edu/robert-crown-law-library/research-resources/brief-guide-lowno-cost-online-american-legal-research/
- American Bar Association's free journal search: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/departments_offices/legal_technology_resources/resources/free_journal_search.html
Post-Conviction Discovery Lecture
On March 24, 2017, Attorney Nathanson spoke at the Advanced Post-Conviction Litigation Seminar of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He spoke regarding post-conviction discovery, including the government's obligations to disclose exculpatory evidence under Brady v. Maryland as well as strategies for litigation under Mass. R. Crim. P. 30(c)(4).
Matthew Malm becomes Of Counsel
Claire Ward Joins Wood & Nathanson
Attorney Claire Alexis Ward has joined Wood & Nathanson as of April, 2017. Attorney Ward comes to us from the Committee for Public Counsel Services, where she was a trial attorney in the Brockton District Court. Attorney Ward is a graduate of Northeastern University Law School and Harvard University. Check back soon for her attorney page.
Public Trial Amicus Brief
On March 6, 2017, Attorney Wood and a team of attorneys from Ropes & Gray filed a brief in the Supreme Court on behalf of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Weaver v. Massachusetts, No. 16-240. They argue that the Court should not shy away from vindicating the treasured right to a public trial. The government's argument that vindicating the right to a public trial would "open up the floodgates" is both factually incorrect and diverts attention from the real issue: whether our Constitution entitles everyone to a public trial. Read the brief here.
Eyewitness Evidence, Innocence, and a New Life
On February 15, 2017, Attorney Wood and his client Nat Cosenza presented a joint lecture for the Committee for Public Counsel Services on the challenges of presenting a new trial motion based on expert eyewitness identification testimony rejected at trial and on direct appeal but later accepted as accurate information that jurors should have. Nat spoke about the factors that lead to a successful transition from a lengthy period of incarceration to a life of liberty.
Motion To Suppress Upheld by Appeals Court
Effective Brief Writing
On January 18, 2017, Attorney Wood lectured at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education's seminar "Effective Appellate Advocacy". Attorney Wood spoke on effective brief writing, urging counsel to pay attention to developing a theme in a brief, to effectively use headings, to write clearly, and to seek amicus support.
Amicus Brief: Particularity Required in Cell Phone Search Warrants
Attorney Wood and a team from Goodwin Procter drafted an amicus brief in Commonwealth v. Keown on behalf of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers advancing the cutting edge argument that, when seeking a warrant to search a cell phone, law enforcement must comply with the Fourth Amendment's requirement to "particularly describ[e] the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." Police should not have carte blanche to sift through people's digital lives. They must limit their searches to inquiries reasonably designed to discover specific evidence of a particular crime. Joining the brief were the ACLU, Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the Committee for Public Counsel Services. Read the brief on our website here or on the Supreme Judicial Court's website here.
Guilty Plea Vacated Due to Immigration Consequences
On January 5, 2017, Attorney Nathanson convinced a judge to vacate our client's guilty pleas to drug trafficking because his trial attorney failed to advise him that a plea to drug distribution would make him automatically deportable under Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010). Attention to immigration consequences is essential in defending a criminal case.
Freedom in Federal Court
On December 19, 2016, Attorney Nathanson and Attorney Shih secured the release of our client who had been serving a 15 year federal sentence for possession of a machine gun. Using the decision in Johnson v. United States, 135 S. Ct. 2551 (2015), the client’s sentence was reduced to time served with probation. They were able to convince the judge that, given the client's exemplary progress in prison and family support, he should be allowed to go directly home instead of a halfway house. Attorneys Nathanson and Shih helped the client create and practice what the judge called "one of the best allocutions I've ever heard."
New Trial Granted in Commonwealth v. Celester
On August 12, 2016, Attorney Wood convinced a Superior Court judge to grant a new trial in Commonwealth v. Celester, after the Supreme Judicial Court sent the case back for further hearings. The judge agreed with Attorney Wood that Mr. Celester's first attorney had provided ineffective assistance by advising his client to make a statement to the police.
Investigation of Tainted Juries
On June 16, 2016, in Commonwealth v. Moore, the SJC unanimously affirmed the decision of the trial court that Attorney Wood should be permitted to contact jurors in a widely publicized murder case to investigate the possibility that their verdict was affected by extraneous influences. Attorney Wood had been the first attorney in Massachusetts to take advantage of a change in the rules of professional conduct permitting attorneys to contact jurors in an effort to uncover injustice. This decision is expected to have a wide impact on post-conviction investigation of criminal cases.
COMMONWEALTH V. COSENZA
Worcester Superior Court (2016)
Attorney Wood, assisted by Attorney Malm, convinced a Superior Court judge to grant a new trial 16 years after our client's conviction because new evidence showed the unreliability of eyewitness identifications.
COMMONWEALTH V. MOORE
Supreme Judicial Court (2016)
Attorney Wood convinced the Supreme Judicial Court that the ethical rules governing attorneys permit attorneys to contact jurors after trial to investigate claims that jurors had been exposed to prejudicial information ("extraneous influences").