Post-Conviction Relief Client Testimonial

John MacDonald trestimonial - Post Conviction Relief

February, 2012:

Client was picked up by immigration authorities as a result of a 2000 felony assault conviction. 

This conviction constituted an aggravated felony under immigration law and would result in her automatic deportation from the United States. 

Attorney MacDonald filed post-conviction relief based upon a defect in the plea colloquy. 

The plea was vacated, the charge dismissed and immigration proceedings were terminated.

Here is the client’s testimonial:

“Mr. MacDonald, I would like to thank you for everything that you did for me and my family. You are my fairy godfather because of you I am still here with my family.  Everything you promised I received and words cannot express how I feel about your firm.  When it come to attorneys there is no other like you. Thank you!” ~ Joana

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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.

Human Sex Trafficking in RI

RI Targets Human Trafficking

October 24, 2011
By JIM BARON

PROVIDENCE — Like any other commodity, sex would not be sold if there was no one to buy it.
That’s why the RI Coalition Against Human Trafficking (RICAHT) is pointing an accusatory finger at men who patronize prostitutes as the real source of suffering and degradation.
There is a cause and effect relationship, the group says, between men paying for commercial sex acts and traffickers exploiting victims. There is a cause and effect relationship, they add, between an man purchasing a sex act from an 18, 25 or 35-year-old “and a pimp who stakes out a neighborhood, ready to prey upon the next runaway he can coerce into prostitution in exchange for food and a place to stay.”
RICAHT is launching a “Time to End the Demand” campaign focused on convincing, cajoling and shaming “johns.” From now until the end of the year, 16 RIPTA buses will carry large “Dear John” ads on their sides as they roll down Rhode Island roads. The ads will feature photographs of Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts, Attorney General Peter Kilmartin, Providence Sen. Rhoda Perry and Laura Pisaturo, former director of advocacy and legal services for Day One, the sexual assault and trauma resource center in Providence, and a message to johns about the implications of their activities.
“Without you and your cash, sex trafficking would not exist,” some of the bus messages read.
RICAHT is spending about $7,000 on the campaign.
At a Statehouse press conference Monday, RICAHT Chairwoman Tammy Dudman read one of the messages aloud, telling johns “you are the reason why pimps and traffickers are inspired to find younger girls – that’s right, younger girls. The average age of entry into prostitution is 13, with pimps preying on their victims within 48 hours of a child running away from home.”
“I firmly believe this a generational quest,” Dudman said. “Without educating the next generation to the myths around prostitution and sex trafficking, we won’t be able to end this.”
Dudman called Roberts “a critical partner in combating the crime of sex trafficking in our state.”
Roberts congratulated RICAHT “for getting this really blunt and really direct message out there in a very public way.
“These are pretty bold and direct messages, and I’m proud one of them comes from me” Roberts said, “This is about saying we don’t need to be prosecuting the victims of sex trafficking, we need to be stopping the perpetrators.”
“These are daughters, these are mothers, these are real people and you are victimizing them when you take your cash out to purchase sex from one of them.”
Kilmartin, lauded as the first RI attorney general to prosecute and imprison sex traffickers, declared, “I like this message. You know what? We’re not going to focus on the victim, the woman or in some cases the child who’s been put out on the street for prostitution purposes. We’re going to focus on the purchaser who really provides the demand factor that makes this possible. We’re going to emphasize that you are part of this problem as much as the pimp.
Our office will gladly prosecute you as well as the pimp because you’re the two big parts of this problem. We’re going to fight you with every means we have under the law.”
Perry, who sponsored the state’s first sex trafficking law, as well as follow-up legislation, said, “Human trafficking, especially young women, exists because there is money in it. It persists because there is a market for it.
“Disrupting this demand, as well as punishing the suppliers and users is essential,” she said. “The focus should surely be on the issue of demand; we need to get this cruel industry out of Rhode Island once and for all.
Perry said education is a key part of the solution, “Education by mothers, by wives, by sisters, by lovers and by friends. We have to educate our men so they know that seeking sex from a trafficked woman is not appropriate and they should not do that.”
“John is a highly sanitized term,” Pisaturo told reporters. “Because men who buy sex from minors are abusers and child molesters. Zero tolerance for johns and pimps and traffickers is overdue.”
Kilmartin acknowledged that police departments have occasionally targeted johns in sweeps and stings for years, but said Monday, “from a prosecutorial standpoint, there are much stronger laws and many stronger tools today,” to go after the demand side of the sex trade.

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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.

Man Charged in Boston Drug Trafficking

Boston Drug Trafficking Targeted At Logan Airport And East Boston District Court

September 22, 2011
Carlos J. Lanns, a 24-year-old New Jersey gentleman (and hereinafter, the “Defendant”), flew to Boston Monday…and into the arms of the law. He now stands charged with a number of Massachusetts drug crimes.

According to the Commonwealth, the Defendant arrived at Logan International Airport with 2.17 kilograms of cocaine, wrapped in plastic, in his shoes. Law enforcement values the drugs at an estimated street value of more than $200,000.

Prosecutors allege that the cocaine was hidden inside four pairs of shoes in his checked luggage. State Police arrested the Defendant shortly after he got off JetBlue Flight 862 from Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. Apparently, they had been alerted by US Customs and Border Protection.

While, the method used to find the drugs was not revealed “so as not to compromise ongoing interdiction efforts,” Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office said, drug-sniffing dogs have been used in the past to check luggage from certain international flights.

At his arraignment, the Defendant is said to have seemed confused as his interpreter explained the proceedings to him. At his East Boston bail hearing, bail was set at $300,000 cash, although the Defendant had no prior record. The Commonwealth also requested that he be made to surrender his passport should bail be made as he allegedly has ties to the Dominican Republic.
It was so ordered.

The Defendant has pleaded not guilty to charges of trafficking in more than 200 grams of a Class B substance. He faces a possible 15-year mandatory minimum state prison sentence if convicted…
…so far.

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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.

We Need an End to the Death Penalty in America

There is nothing quite as disappointing as watching our Courts and systems of Government fail and persecute the very people they are meant to protect.

Troy Anthony Davis: Victim of American Injustice

September 22, 2011
James Clark

Troy Davis was executed by the state of Georgia last night at 11:08 PM, despite a worldwide movement over 1 million strong that drew attention to the glaring doubts of his guilt. With no physical evidence and a host of witness recantations, all indications are that the state of Georgia killed an innocent man.

Outside the death row facility in Jackson, Georgia, I joined Troy's friends, family, and supporters in vigil. About 200 people arrived early enough to be allowed on the prison grounds in the highly controlled roped-off area reserved for execution opponents. Hundreds, maybe thousands more people were looking on from across the street. After visiting with Troy for the final time, his family attended a service at a makeshift church in a parking lot across the street before joining the protestors on the prison grounds.

Throughout the day of Troy's execution, periods of high energy and excitement alternated with long stretches of waiting. Prayer was continuous, as various clergy and other people of faith struggled with the difficulty of waiting for an execution while hoping for a reprieve. With each successive denial of Troy's final last-ditch appeal from the Superior Court and the Georgia Supreme Court, the mood grew somber and fearful.

At around 7 p.m., the crowd latched onto what turned out to be a false report of a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court. The entire crowd suddenly burst with joy and celebration. People jumped in the air and fell on their knees and prayed and hugged one another. Others had confused looks, made confirmation phone calls, and had to explain that this was not a stay of execution. The Court reviewed the appeal but took no action, delaying the execution for only a few hours. The Court finally did deny the appeal after 10:00 p.m. About an hour later, Troy Davis was dead.

Amidst so much doubt, there is only one certainty: the world is watching.

The Twitter hashtags #TooMuchDoubt and #TroyDavis have exploded as people around the world watched Georgia take the life of an innocent man. Protests were sparked around the country and the world, including an impromptu protest of hundreds at the United States Supreme Court while the Court deliberated Troy's appeal. Over 1 million people signed petitions for Troy before he was executed, and millions more watched in shock as the travesty of justice unfolded.

We must ensure that Troy Davis did not die for nothing. Millions of people have now seen the danger, dysfunction, and catastrophic injustice of America's death penalty.

I tweeted what I saw and experienced in Atlanta and Jackson from @ACLU and my main point was this: The only way to avoid executing the in nocent is end the #deathpenalty. #TroyDavis.
That clear statement of fact was retweeted more than one hundred times. And the hashtag "#RIPTroyDavis" is trending not just in Atlanta, but worldwide. So while the movement to save Troy's life ended late last night, the movement to end the death penalty is stronger than ever. We must turn our anger and anguish into action.

Join the fight to protect the innocent and end the death penalty in California, or wherever you live.
As the ACLU's Tanya Greene wrote this morning in the wake of Davis's execution, "We must continue to fight a system that disrespects people so viciously and so finally, all the while claiming fair proceedings in the name of justice…Until we win, I, too, am Troy Davis."

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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.

"Troy Davis and the History of Injustice in America"

Troy Davis and the History of Injustice in America

E.D. Kain
September 20, 2011


The history of justice in America is pocked with such deep institutional injustices that time and again we make a mockery of the word. From slavery to the War on Drugs, the powerful have trampled time and again on the weak.

Law and order masquerade as justice, and our prisons fill to the brim with young men, mostly black and Hispanic, mostly poor. Meanwhile, inner cities lie like sunken ruins across the wealthiest nation in the history of civilization, stomped upon by drug warriors and poverty and violence.

And though we accept the limitations of our government and of the good judgment of our leaders, we nevertheless believe in the infallibility of this system we call justice, but which is not justice, to hand down the most final sort of judgment a man could ever know.

Troy Davis, convicted over two decades ago of killing an off-duty cop, though much doubt has been cast upon his guilt and the methods which police and prosecutors used to secure his conviction, will be executed by the state of Georgia tomorrow. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied him clemency, and there are no other avenues left to save him.

In the end, I am not concerned so much with whether or not Davis is guilty or innocent. I am concerned with the uncertainty of his guilt. “I’m not for blood. I’m for justice,” said the mother of the slain police officer. But we extract one or the other, not both. In a case where the blood may be that of an innocent, how can we call it justice?

Death is tragic. The death of Mark MacPhail is a tragedy that will never be undone. Not by blood, not by prison bars, not by time, not by proof that Davis is guilty or proof that he is innocent. But if we have even a glimmer of doubt about his guilt, there will be no justice in his death. If we have even a hint of uncertainty over whether this man did the deeds he was accused of, but which most of his accusers have since recanted, we should stay his execution.

But the history of justice in America is scarred across by such tragedies.
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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.

Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, the Untold Story of ‘Conviction’

Ineffective Counsel - The Kenneth Waters Story

In 1983, after a five-day jury trial in Middlesex County Superior Court, Kenneth Waters was convicted of the first-degree murder and armed robbery of Katharina Brow. He was sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole. However, if Waters’ lawyer had done his job in the first place, he probably would have never been convicted.

‘Conviction’ is a powerful film about the undaunted dedication of Betty Anne Waters in proving her brother’s innocence. Hilary Swank plays the lead role of Betty Anne, a sister who literally dedicates her life to exonerating her brother Kenny from an unjust murder conviction. Despite being a single mother with two young boys, at her brother’s insistence, Betty Anne enrolls at CCRI and eventually completes her bachelor’s degree at Rhode Island College and law degree at Roger Williams University Law School. During law school, she learned about DNA testing and the work of the Innocence Project in exonerating individuals wrongfully convicted of crimes.

In November of 1998, Betty Anne wrote to the Innocence Project requesting assistance in her brother’s case. After locating the blood evidence still stored in the basement of the Middlesex Courthouse, Betty Anne secured the assistance of the Innocence Project to test the blood evidence which later determined that the DNA of the perpetrator did not match Waters. Kenny Waters was released from prison in 2001.

I first learned about Betty Anne Waters seven years ago when she was the guest speaker at the Rhode Island Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ annual meeting. Betty Anne told this very powerful story about with such amazing grace and humility. I sat in wonder over her absolute dedication to her brother’s cause, a dedication that spanned over two decades. I also couldn’t help think about the mistakes made by Waters’ defense counsel that led to his conviction. Recently, Betty Anne was kind enough to sit down and relate to me some lessons of her brother’s case that that all defense attorneys should be aware of.

“My family and I visited all of the top lawyers in the area, including F. Lee Bailey, but they all wanted a huge sum of money, up to fifty thousand dollars, just to get started,” remarked Betty Anne. “In my family, no one had graduated college and we had no money. We wanted to raise the funds but Kenny did not want the family spending money on a lawyer for a crime he didn’t commit.”

Throughout his case, Waters was represented by an experienced court-appointed attorney. “He seemed to have a command of the courtroom and told us that he had tried many murder cases, so we trusted him” noted Betty Anne. However, in the 28 years that elapsed since her brother’s conviction, Betty Anne learned that this attorney never properly investigated this case and was completely ineffective in obtaining available evidence that proved his innocence.

Kenny Waters was not convicted based upon eye-witness identification, forensic evidence or a confession to police. Instead, he was convicted primarily as a result of the testimony of two ex-girlfriends, both of which testified that Waters admitted to them that he had killed Katharina Brow. Their testimony, along with Waters’ failure to prove his alibi defense, was enough to convict him of first-degree murder with extreme atrocity and sentence him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. His appeal to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court was heard and denied in 1987.
While DNA testing eventually cleared Waters, if his defense counsel had done his job in the first place, he probably would have never been convicted.

During grand jury proceedings, officials from the Ayer Police testified that no usable latent prints were recovered from the crime scene. Yet no defense motions were ever filed to confirm this testimony. In fact, Massachusetts State Police had recovered several usable latent prints from the crime scene that were identified as belonging to the perpetrator. These prints were compared with the prints of several suspects, including Waters, and he was excluded as the source. The evidence that Waters was innocent of this crime was in existence in 1980. It did not require the development of DNA testing 18 years later.

“I asked the retired State Police BCI Detective why he never came forward with this evidence, knowing full well that it proved that Kenny did not commit this murder. He told me he never thought to since he heard that Kenny had admitted to the murder,” said Betty Anne. It took over two decades and a civil action subpoena to produce the box of latent prints and test results that were still stored in the detective’s personal storage unit. When recovered, they proved that the Massachusetts State Police had already excluded Waters as a source of the perpetrator’s prints long before he was ever charged. It also proved that members of the Ayer Police Department were well aware of these results prior to charging him. These shocking findings helped secure a civil judgment against the town of Ayer.

The bottom line is that Waters’ trial lawyer never demanded an independent inspection of the latent prints recovered from the crime scene. Instead, he simply took the word of a police officer testifying under oath at a grand jury that no usable latent prints existed. If Waters’ attorney had demanded to inspect and test the prints, he would have discovered that they were not only usable, they exonerated his client. The so-called admissions testified to by Waters’ ex-girlfriends were later discarded by the District Attorney’s office in the face of compelling DNA evidence. This decision could have taken place two decades earlier in light of the fingerprint evidence. Without question, a jury verdict of not-guilty would have been much more probable.

To those of us in the criminal defense bar, the lessons of Kenny Waters’ conviction cannot be clearer. We simply cannot accept at face value the claims of police, state experts or for that matter, state prosecutors. (Interestingly enough, the former district attorney who tried this case, now a Massachusetts judge, later testified at deposition that she was unaware of what a latent print was). We must, without exception, separately investigate and verify all available evidence. If Kenny Waters’ original trial lawyer had done so, he probably would not have spent 18 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

Copyright June 2011 @ John MacDonald, Esquire


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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.

Federal Criminal Discovery Rules Changing

Discover Changes

In criminal defense matters, nothing is more important to the client’s case than the quality of the information you receive from the state. The current situation very often involves late or missing discovery and hinders adequate representation of clients charged criminally in the process. The following article discusses the proposed changes to the discovery law being contemplated on the Federal level and what that would mean for criminal defense attorneys and prosecutors in particular.

Federal Judiciary Divided Over Changing Criminal Discovery Rule

Federal judges are divided over the necessity to change the rules of criminal procedure to put a greater emphasis and burden on prosecutors to turn over favorable information to defense lawyers, a Federal Judicial Center report concluded.

The center, the research arm of the judiciary, surveyed all U.S. Attorney’s Offices, thousands of defense lawyers and federal and magistrate judges to assess the merits of a proposed amendment to Rule 16, which governs discovery in criminal cases.

The FJC said 43% of about 1,500 judges completed the online survey, which was conducted last year. Eighty-five of the 93 U.S. Attorney’s Offices participated in the review. More than 5,000 private criminal defense lawyers and federal public defenders provided their assessment.

The judiciary was evenly split on the need for amending the rule. But judges in districts with local rules or standing orders that require broader disclosure of information than what’s required in Rule 16 indicated greater support for a rule change than other judges in the judiciary. The Justice Department opposed a rule change. More than 90% of the defense lawyers who responded favored a change.
The two most frequent disclosure violations among prosecutors, judges reported, were the failure to provide favorable information on time and the scope of the disclosure to the defense.

Judges also reported they rarely hold an attorney in contempt and infrequently report a prosecutor’s conduct to the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility, bar counsel or other disciplinary body.
The survey also said that more than 60% of judges said they did not have a case in the past five years in which a prosecutor or defense lawyer failed to comply with disclosure obligations.

In 2009, Judge Emmet Sullivan of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote to the Judicial Conference criminal rules committee asking the group of lawyers, judges and law professors to reassess, for a second time in recent years, an amendment to the rule.

Sullivan was the trial judge who oversaw the Justice Department’s botched prosecution of former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. Sullivan called the Stevens case one of the most shocking examples of prosecutorial misconduct he’d ever seen during his time on the bench.

DOJ officials tout what they call a "comprehensive" approach to discovery reform in arguing against a rule change.

The department early last year issued new discovery guidance to all federal prosecutors. The memos, issued by then-Deputy Attorney General David Ogden, encouraged “broad and early” discovery.

Also, the department announced its intent to provide more training for prosecutors.
Copyright Mike Scarcella

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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.

Immigration Attorney MacDonald and the New Naturalization Certificates

Immigration Attorney John MacDonald posts an article regarding the recent changes to naturalization certificates.

The changes will include embedded photos and signatures, as well as high-tech ink designs aimed to deter counterfeiting the documents.

The full article follows below.

U.S. naturalization certificate gets high-tech redesign

Aimed at reducing fraud, the documents will now feature embedded photos, signatures and color-shifting ink patterns

By Abby Sewell

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Monday the launch of a redesigned certificate of naturalization aimed at reducing fraud.

The certificate will be given to new citizens in the Southern California district that includes San Luis Obispo County. The agency estimated that it would issue more than 600,000 of the new certificates in the next year. Locally, the district includes the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. The agency naturalized more than 65,000 people in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

The certificates given to new U.S. citizens will now feature embedded photographs and signatures and a color-shifting ink pattern on the background. Officials said the new features will make the documents more difficult to forge.

“We are confident that the new enhancements will prevent fraud and will enhance the security of the process,” spokeswoman Mariana Gitomer said.

Although most of the nation began issuing the redesigned documents Monday, the Los Angeles district will wait to launch them in November. A group of 9,900 newly naturalized citizens will receive the old version at a ceremony in Los Angeles today. Gitomer said the district wanted to ensure that there would be no technical issues with the new documents before issuing them to such a large group.

Previously issued naturalization certificates will remain valid.

The agency also plans to fully automate the process of producing the certificates by the end of 2010, beginning with the Atlanta, Denver and Baltimore offices.

The changes in the certificate of naturalization follow the launch of a redesigned permanent resident card — commonly known as the green card — in May. The new card includes radio frequency identification capability, to allow border officers to read the cards from a distance.

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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.

RI Immigration Attorney Secures Post Conviction Relief Decision

US Immigration Post Conviction Relief Attorney MacDonald posts the following results from a case involving vacating a drug trafficking sentence and application for naturalization.

Client appeared at our office in April of 2010 concerned about her immigration situation.

She was ordered removed from the United States in 2000 by way of an in abstentia order.

The basis of removal was a drug trafficking conviction from Massachusetts. Client had hired two other attorneys to vacate this conviction without success. Client hires our services. We retain Massachusetts counsel to vacate the plea.

Once vacated, we successfully moved to reopen the immigration case and terminate proceedings.

Client’s application for naturalization was granted in October of 2010.

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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.

RI Criminal Attorney MacDonald Speaks on the Impact of the Supreme Court Ruling in Padilla v. Kentucky

On December 8, 2010, Attorney John E. MacDonald, Esquire will speak at the Rhode Island Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ annual Fall Continuing Legal Education Seminar regarding Developments in Criminal Law and Procedure. 

Attorney MacDonald will present an update relative to the recent Supreme Court Immigration ruling in Padilla v. Kentucky. The seminar will encompass effective strategies and tactics for providing effective assistance of counsel, and avoiding removal in criminal and immigration matters.

The case of Padilla v. Kentucky is a precedent setting Supreme Court case involving the rights of a criminal defendant to be informed regarding the possibility of deportation when entering into plea agreements, or being found guilty of all but the most minor criminal offenses. With the recent changes to the Immigration laws, private counsel is now in the position of having to inform criminal clients about the possibility of deportation in all but the most obscurely referenced Immigration laws. In all criminal cases involving immigrants, counsel must at least inform the client that the chance of deportation exists.

Attorney MacDonald is known for his experience in Criminal matters that also involve Immigration issues, and when asked about his engagement to speak at the CLE seminar dealing with this issue stated, “Padilla is a landmark decision from our Supreme Court. It places an affirmative duty on criminal defense lawyers to properly advise their clients as to the immigration consequences of a plea. Lawyers can no longer turn a blind eye to the harsh immigration consequences that may result from a plea to a criminal case.”

The CLE seminar will take place on Wednesday December 8, 2010 from 4:00 to 7:00PM at the Frank Licht Judicial Complex, 250 Benefit Street, Providence, Rhode Island.

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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.

Adult Services on Craigslist Amount to Prostitution in RI

RI Criminal Lawyer MacDonald shares an article regarding prostitution in RI through Craigslist's adult services section, and the State's request that the section be eliminated from the classified giant's website. The full article follows below.

State Attorneys General ask Craigslist to Drop Adult Services

The website is used to advertise prostitution, a letter to the website's CEO and founder claims.

August 24, 2010|By Eric Gershon

Attorneys general from 17 states have asked Craigslist to eliminate the adult services section of its popular network of websites, citing continuing use of it to advertise prostitution.

"Craigslist clearly lacks the wherewithal — or will — to fight flagrant prostitution ads that persist on its site," Connecticut Atty. Gen. Richard Blumenthal said Tuesday in a letter to Craigslist Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster and founder Craig Newmark. "Prostitution is a booming business on Craigslist, perhaps more than ever before."

Blumenthal is one of 17 attorneys general who signed a letter asking San Francisco-based Craiglist to remove the adult services section.

"We understand that prostitution is profitable — but its human toll is intolerable, and Craigslist should cease being an enabler," Blumenthal said. "Despite its much-touted 'manual review' of adult services, Craigslist has failed to block blatant prostitution ads."

The attorneys general of Arkansas, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia also signed the letter. It argues that Craigslist has not lived up to its previous pledges to monitor the adult services section for inappropriate ads and eliminate them.

In November 2008, Buckmaster appeared in Hartford with Blumenthal to announce that Craigslist would begin requiring anyone posting ads in its "erotic services" section to supply a working telephone number and pay a fee by credit card as a way to crack down on ads for illegal sexual services. The company said it would verify the information.

Gershon writes for the Hartford Courant/McClatchy.


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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.


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US District Court Guilty Plea Entered in Criminal Trial for RI Based Organized Crime Suspects

Rhode Island Mother and Son Plead Guilty to Interstate Extortion Related to Organized Crime

by: USDOJ: Justice News
Aug 25th, 2010

WASHINGTON – Dorothy St. Laurent, 71, of Johnston, R.I., and her son Anthony St. Laurent Jr., 44, of Cranston, R.I., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Providence, R.I., to interstate extortion in violation of the Hobbs Act. The wife and son of Anthony St. Laurent Sr., a person identified by law enforcement as a member of organized crime, were charged in a federal complaint in February 2010 with extorting payments from bookmakers in the Taunton, Mass., area on behalf of Anthony St. Laurent Sr.

The guilty pleas were announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney for the District of Rhode Island Peter F. Neronha and Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Field Office. The pleas were entered before U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith.

According to information presented at the plea hearing, beginning at least as early as 1988 and continuing through early February 2009, Dorothy St. Laurent and Anthony St. Laurent Jr. conspired with each other and others to extort “protection” payments from a group of illegal bookmakers operating in and around Taunton.

The government’s evidence includes a number of conversations recorded by the FBI in late 2008 and early 2009 that capture Dorothy St. Laurent and Anthony St. Laurent Jr. in conversation with a cooperating witness as they discuss efforts to maintain the extortion scheme, which, at that time, was generating $4,100 in cash collected by Dorothy St. Laurent every two weeks. The plea agreement stipulates that the defendants extorted in excess of $800,000 and less than $1.5 million.

Dorothy St. Laurent served as the primary collection agent of the cash payments provided by the bookmakers while Anthony St. Laurent Jr.’s role was to both threaten violence and on at least one occasion, to engage in actual violence to enforce continued payment.

Dorothy and Anthony St. Laurent Jr. are scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 10, 2010. Anthony St. Laurent Sr. is detained awaiting trial on a charge of solicitation to commit murder-for-hire and on this matter.

Trial Attorney Scott Lawson of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Racketeering Section is prosecuting the case, with assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Ferland. The matter was investigated by the FBI, with the assistance of Rhode Island State Police and the Providence Police Department.

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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.