Massachusetts
Massachusetts defendant arrested by ICE reportedly had drug trafficking charges tossed due to Annie Dookhan lab scandal
The Boston defendant who was arrested by ICE agents outside the courthouse during his trial last week reportedly had his past drug trafficking charges tossed due to the Annie Dookhan lab scandal.
Wilson Martell-LeBron was detained by ICE agents last Thursday outside the Boston Municipal Court Central Edward W. Brooke Courthouse — following the start of his trial for allegedly making a false statement on an RMV application and possession of a forged RMV document.
The feds claim that he’s an undocumented immigrant from the Dominican Republic, who’s allegedly named Juan Carlos Baez. They arrested him mid-trial and brought him to a detention facility in Plymouth.
In the wake of that shocking mid-trial detainment, the BMC judge on Monday found an ICE agent in contempt after not showing up to court, and Martell-Lebron’s case was dismissed with prejudice “due to egregious and intentional prosecutorial misconduct” following ICE’s arrest.
Martell-Lebron years ago faced drug charges in both Middlesex and Essex counties, according to reports.
He was found guilty in Middlesex Superior Court on two counts of cocaine trafficking and one count of heroin trafficking in 2009, and he was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.
Meanwhile in Essex County, Martell-Lebron pleaded guilty to one count of cocaine trafficking and one count of heroin trafficking in 2009. That five-year sentence was to be served concurrently with the Middlesex sentence.
Then in 2017, those Essex County charges were vacated and dismissed with prejudice due to the Annie Dookhan drug lab scandal.
Between 2003 and 2011, chemist Annie Dookhan engaged in serious misconduct at a state drug lab that jeopardized the integrity of more than 20,000 cases in eastern Massachusetts.
Because of Dookhan’s misconduct at the Hinton State Laboratory in Jamaica Plain, the Supreme Judicial Court ordered the dismissal with prejudice of thousands of drug cases. Martell-Lebron’s charges in Essex County were among those tossed cases.
“The Court’s finding(s) or judgment(s) on charge(s) 1 COCAINE, TRAFFICKING IN c94C 32E(b), 2 HEROIN/MORPHINE/OPIUM, TRAFFICKING IN c94C 32E(c), 3 DRUG, POSSESS CLASS C c94C 34, 4 DRUG, POSSESS CLASS D c94C 34 is/are vacated and these charges are ordered DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE, per order of the Supreme Judicial Court (Gaziano, J.),” reads the court record.
Back to Monday, the Suffolk DA’s office said it was “dismayed and surprised when our prosecution of Wilson Martell-Lebron was interrupted by ICE apprehending him in the middle of our case.”
“As soon as we were made aware of the detention we contacted ICE and requested his return to court,” a spokesperson for the DA’s office said in a statement, adding, “Any claim that we were aware of an attempt to prevent Mr. Martell-Lebron from exercising his right to a trial is false… Federal authorities should not have detained him and interfered with our efforts to hold him accountable.”
Special Agent Brian Sullivan was found to be in contempt, but he was not held in contempt because he didn’t appear in court on Monday.
“He sought relief from the United States Attorney’s Office to prevent his appearance to answer for why he disappeared Wilson Martell-Lebron in the middle of his trial,” attorney Ryan Sullivan, who is on the defendant’s legal team, said in a statement.
“As for what we are calling on ICE to do, we are calling on them to respect the process of the law afforded to all individuals inside of the United States, regardless of their immigration status,” he added. “We are calling on them to not seek to uproot and ignore the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 12 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights to have a fair trial, or the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States constitution, guaranteeing due process. We can think of no greater failure of the rule of law than the government conspiring to kidnap a person in the middle of their trial seeking to demonstrate their innocence.”
Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden on Tuesday will hold a press conference on the ICE detention of Martell-Lebron.
This ICE arrest comes after Tufts graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk was grabbed off the street by ICE agents and shipped to a Louisiana facility. Ozturk, a PhD student and Fulbright Scholar from Turkey who was here on a student visa, was taken into custody by federal agents on the sidewalk outside her off-campus apartment in Somerville.
Ozturk in a past op-ed criticized the university’s administration after the Tufts Senate passed resolutions about the “Palestinian genocide” and divesting from companies with ties to Israel. The Department of Homeland Security said she was arrested because of her alleged “support of Hamas,” but has not provided further information.
Massachusetts
How will the Iran war impact gas prices in Massachusetts?
With a widening conflict in the Middle East after the American and Israeli attack on Iran Saturday, global markets are bracing for a shakeup in the energy supply chain.
So, here at home, what can consumers expect at the gas pump?
An increase in oil prices is almost always followed by an increase in gas prices. And the oil market has already reacted to the war. NBC News reported on Sunday that U.S. crude oil initially spiked more than 10%, while Brent, the international oil benchmark, rose as much as 13%.
Early Monday morning, reports were coming in of black smoke rising from the U.S. embassy in Kuwait City.
While Iran’s oil reserves supply less than an estimated 5% of global production, the main concern is the Strait of Hormuz. This maritime passageway borders Iran at the bottleneck of the Persian Gulf, and more than 20% of the world’s oil passes through. If Iran closes or restricts Hormuz, the oil market could face severe disruptions.
Gas prices rise about 2.5 cents for every dollar increase in crude oil prices. As of Sunday, U.S. crude oil prices had already increased by nearly $5 a barrel.
“I fully expect that by Monday night, you could credibly say that gas prices are being impacted by oil prices having gone up,” GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan told NBC News.
GasBuddy characterizes their expectations for price increases as “incremental” rather than “explosive”. The group said to anticipate a potential 10-15 cent increase over the next couple of weeks.
Massachusetts
Body camera video shows Massachusetts police officer save 78-year-old man from burning truck – East Idaho News
EASTON, Mass. (WBZ) — Police body camera video shows an Easton, Massachusetts, officer rescuing a 78-year-old Raynham man from a burning car on Friday morning.
A Mack dump truck was experiencing problems on the side of Turnpike Street just after 2 a.m. when a Ford pickup truck struck the back of it, according to police.
The pickup truck then became stuck under the dump truck, trapping the driver, Francis Leverone, inside. A Toyota Camry then hit the back of the pickup truck and caught fire, police said.
Easton police officer Dean Soucie arrived at the crash and saw that the two vehicles were on fire. Video shows Soucie rushing over before breaking the driver’s side window and then, with the help of the two witnesses, freeing Leverone from the pickup truck. Soucie said he was confused but conscious.
“As I reached inside the vehicle, one of the passersby — he actually jumped into the cab of the truck, and he helped me free the individual,” Soucie said.
They then carried the driver to safety.
Leverone was taken to a nearby hospital before being transferred to a Boston hospital. He received serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
No one else was injured in the crash.
Dee Leverone told WBZ her husband is doing OK. “I’m just thankful for the people that got him out,” she said. “Very thankful.”
After watching the police body-cam video on the news she said, “I was shocked, I was like ‘Oh my God!’ I just couldn’t believe it. His truck is like melted.”
She says she realized that something was wrong last night when her husband never made it home from work.
“I kept trying to call him and call him, and I finally got a hold of him at like 4:30 a.m., and he was at (Good Samaritan Hospital) and he told me he’s gotten in an accident,” Dee said.
She says he’s recovering at the Boston Medical Center and being treated for a dislocated hip.
“He’s a trooper,” Dee said. “He’s a strong man — and you know he’s 78, but you know he’s a toughie. He definitely is a toughie.”
Soucie commended the help of the two witnesses and said that before he arrived at the crash, they had attempted to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher and removed a gasoline tank from the pickup truck before it could ignite.
“They jumped into action like it was nothing,” Soucie said. “Those two individuals were absolutely awesome.”
Easton Police Chief Keith Boone said that he is “extremely proud” of Soucie and the witnesses.
“He saved a life last night,” Chief Boone said. “He is an exemplary police officer and this is just one example. I think he’s a hero.”
Turnpike Street was closed for several hours following the crash. Easton Police are investigating.
=htmlentities(get_the_title())?>%0D%0A%0D%0A=get_permalink()?>%0D%0A%0D%0A=htmlentities(‘For more stories like this one, be sure to visit https://www.eastidahonews.com/ for all of the latest news, community events and more.’)?>&subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20EastIdahoNews” class=”fa-stack jDialog”>
Massachusetts
Crews battle fire at Townsend home
A fire broke out Sunday morning in Townsend, Massachusetts.
The Townsend Fire department said shortly before 7 a.m. that firefighters were on scene for a structure fire on Dudley Road.
People have been asked to avoid the area.
The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services said state police fire investigators assigned to the state fire marshal’s office are responding to assist the Townsend Fire Department.
There was no immediate word on any injuries, or any information on what caused the fire. It’s also unclear if the large snow piles in the area impeded access to fire hydrants, as was the case at the house explosion in Taunton last week.
This developing story will be updated when we learn more
-
World5 days agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Massachusetts5 days agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Denver, CO5 days ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Louisiana1 week agoWildfire near Gum Swamp Road in Livingston Parish now under control; more than 200 acres burned
-
Technology1 week agoYouTube TV billing scam emails are hitting inboxes
-
Politics1 week agoOpenAI didn’t contact police despite employees flagging mass shooter’s concerning chatbot interactions: REPORT
-
Technology1 week agoStellantis is in a crisis of its own making
-
News1 week agoWorld reacts as US top court limits Trump’s tariff powers