According to the law, murder that doesn’t fall into any one of the above categories is second degree murder. That would include murder with malice but without premeditation or extreme atrocity or cruelty, or murder committed during the commission or attempted commission of a felony punishable by a lesser sentence than life imprisonment.

Evidence may be suppressed if it was obtained through an unconstitutional search. Statements may be suppressed if the police violated the defendant’s Miranda rights or engaged in other 4th, 5th, or 6th Amendment violations. Identification evidence may be suppressed if the identification procedure was unconstitutionally suggestive. Suppressing these types of evidence may get the case dismissed entirely. At KJC Law Firm we are fortunate to have a consultant who is an experienced Constitutional Law Professor, Timothy Wilton, who can analyze the Commonwealth’s investigation to determine if any evidence has been obtained unlawfully in violation of the Constitution. Professor Wilton has been a lawyer since 1971 and a tenured law professor at Suffolk University Law School since 1986.

Even if the case cannot be dismissed, a skilled, experienced trial lawyer can still win the case at trial. KJC Law Firm lawyers aggressively defend you or your loved one and will challenge the Commonwealth’s evidence every step of the way. This might be through the presentation of an effective alibi defense, exculpatory forensic evidence, an attack on the identification procedure used, challenges to ballistics or other forensic evidence, or proof of self-defense.

There are certain circumstances in which an individual has, in fact, committed the crime but the law prohibits punishment due to mental illness. When someone is incapable of determining right or wrong, there are defenses such as insanity, lack of criminal responsibility, extreme stress, or an impaired state of mind. In these instances, a skilled attorney may admit that the crime was committed but will use evidence of the mental disease or defect to convince the judge that treatment, not imprisonment, is the only lawful response from the court.

The stakes are never higher than when someone is accused of taking the life of another.