MACDL Letter on Proposed SJC Order on Murder Appeals
MACDL has submitted a letter in response to the SJC’s request for comments on a proposed order intended to speed up post-conviction proceedings in first-degree murder cases. MACDL joined representatives of the defense bar appointed to respond to the order (including Chauncey Wood, who participated as MACDL’s representative) in expressing concerns about the order. Read MACDL’s letter, and the comments of the defense bar representatives, below. […]
Statement Supporting Professor Ron Sullivan
MACDL has issued a statement in support of Harvard Law School Professor Ron Sullivan, after Harvard College declined to renew his status as a faculty dean following student protests based upon his choice to defend Harvey Weinstein in a criminal case. No attorney should face adverse consequences for choosing to represent a criminal defendant and Harvard’s decision in this case demonstrates a lack of respect […]
MACDL Elects John Amabile as New Vice President
On May 1, 2019, MACDL’s Board voted to elect Attorney John Amabile as the Association’s new Vice President. Mr. Amabile will take on that role in June 2019, supporting Victoria Kelleher, who will take office as MACDL’s President that month. Mr. Amabile will serve a two-year term as Vice President before succeeding Ms. Kelleher as MACDL’s President. Mr. Amabile is a Principal of the law firm Amabile & […]
MACDL President Condemns Indictment of Judge
MACDL President Derege Demissie represented MACDL today in a debate on WGBH regarding U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling’s indictment of Massachusetts Judge Shelley M. Joseph for allegedly helping a defendant in her courtroom avoid detention by ICE agents. MACDL strongly condemns the actions of the U.S. Attorney in bringing this prosecution to intimidate state court judges. ICE’s actions in the courthouses of Massachusetts deny both US citizens and noncitizens due […]
MACDL Supports Conditional Guilty Pleas
On February 28, 2019, MACDL submitted a comment in response to the amendment to Mass. R. Crim. P. 12 proposed by the Supreme Judicial Court’s Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure. MACDL joined the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) in expressing support for allowing conditional guilty pleas for the first time in Massachusetts (following the SJC’s decision in
NPR Features Exonerated Client of MACDL Board Member
Mark Schand scoops ice cream at his Sweetwater smoothie cafe in New Britain, Conn. This business is meant to reboot a career Schand says was stolen from him at the age of 19 when he was wrongfully convicted of a crime and was imprisoned for 27 years.
Photo: Karen Brown/NEPR
A recent NPR story features Mark […]