September 01, 2010
- Steven Topazio wrote this April 27, 2014 at 11:03 am
The defendant, a professional tax analyst, was arrested on two counts of A&B after being witnessed by police punching two individuals in the face and knocking them to the ground, was represented by Attorney Topazio. Attorney Topazio learned that when his client was arrested he was walking with a friend, who happened to be Jewish, through the Holocaust Memorial on Union Street in Boston, when he heard two other individuals walking in the opposite direction make anti-Semitic remarks. When the defendant demanded an apology after identifying that his friend was Jewish and offended by the remarks, a fight broke out in which the defendant was witnessed by police striking the other two individuals. Attorney Topazio met with his client and realized that any admission or guilty finding would jeopardize his client’s job and future employment in his chosen profession. Attorney Topazio had his client obtain several letters of recommendation and evidence of accomplishments which he shared with the District Attorney in an attempt to resolve the case by way of pretrial probation. Pre-trial probation is a court-approved agreement or contract between the prosecutor and defendant before a trial or a plea of guilty. Under such an agreement, a defendant is placed on probation, in the care of a probation officer, for a certain period of time and under certain conditions before he is convicted of any crime. In return, the charges will be dismissed upon the defendant’s successful completion of his probation. If, on the other hand, the defendant violates any condition of his probation, then the charges will not be dismissed and the case will be placed back on the trial list and proceed normally. Today, despite the strength of the Commonwealth’s case, Attorney Topazio persuaded the District Attorney to give his client pre-trial probation in lieu of admitting to the charges and thus saving his record and career. Under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 276 Section 87, the court agreed with the proposed resolution and placed his client on pretrial probation.