Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

The Sun Chronicle is reporting that four defendants charged with participating in a gas station dispute a few months ago may have their cases dropped because the videotape of the incident was accidentally taped over.

Gun charges in Attleboro can have serious long-term consequences, including probation, jail or prison time, fines and fees and a major blemish on a record.

Every defendant has a right to a fair trial and that includes being able to confront every witness and every piece of evidence the prosecution intends to use against you. By losing or destroying exculpatory evidence, the Commonwealth denies a defendant due process and the right to a fair trial under the Constitution.

It's not as rare as one might think. Attleboro criminal defense lawyers have witnessed many cases where police will misplace, misidentify or otherwise lose evidence in a case. Police handle thousands of cases and they have procedures to properly store evidence. But there are times when the system fails.

In this case, lawyers for the suspects are asking that an Attleboro District Court judge drop their cases. They argued that the videotape of the incident would clear the men of wrongdoing.

The manager at the Shell Gas station on South Avenue testified that the tape was accidentally recorded over. The police should have secured the videotape when they made their case against the suspects, which would have prevented the problem.

A police officer who viewed the tape wrote in a report that the tape didn't show any of the defendants with a gun. They were arrested later after their car was stopped and a .22-caliber handgun was seized from inside the vehicle.

Arrested were Joshua Demers, 19, of Attleboro, Manuel Teixeira Jr., 20, Dylan Contreras, 18 and Tyrone Ball Jr., 22, of Pawtucket. They have all pleaded innocent to a charge of carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a dangerous weapon and disturbing the peace.

The defendants are due back in court in December and the judge said he would make a decision on the matter before they are supposed to appear before him.

All suspects in a criminal case have certain rights. One of the most fundamental is the right to be able to inspect and view all evidence. If police and prosecutors botch the case, they should pay the consequences. In this case, it would mean having the charges dropped.