Massachusetts Criminal Lawyer Blog
KW, is the 42 year old owner of a medical care corporation. His company is a multi million dollar company. Because he is heavily involved with medicare and medicaid patients both Federal Law and State Law prohibit him from having an administrative or ownership position in the company if he is a convicted felon. In 2008 KW had a large collection of firearms. As the result of a theft case involving a replica gun silencer KW was forced to surrender his License To Carry (LTC) and his Firearm Identification Card (FID). In addition he was required to get rid of all his firearms and ammunition. KW surrendered his LTC and his FID Card and he surrendered all his weapons and ammunition – at least he thought he did. In 2016 (8 years later) the police conducted a consent search of KW’s house in Tewksbury as the result of an investigation of certain criminal accusations being made against KW. During the search the police found a .22 Magnum caliber, North American Arms mini-reolver and 71 rounds of ammunition. The police arrested KW and charged him with (Misdemeanor) Possession of a Firearm (in the home) without a license and (Misdemeanor) Possession of Ammunition (in the home). Because the gun was not properly secured and stored he was also charged with Improper Firearm Storage. The Improper Storage charge is a felony and a conviction would disqualify him from working in the medical care business – the only business he has done for twenty years. Even a continuance without a finding on that charge would not help him as the Federal Government treats a continuance without a finding as if it were a conviction.
KW hired Attorney Robert Lewin from North Andover. The two misdemeanor charges would not affect KW’s ability to work in the medical care business. The felony charge would put him “out of business”. Attorney Lewin negotiated at length with the DA’s Office at Lowell District Court to dismiss the Improper Storage charge. The DA refused to budge on that charge because there were children in the house and it was one of the children who had brought the presence of the gun and the ammunition to the attention of the police. For eight months Attorney Lewin doggedly advocated on KW’s behalf with the DA to drop the Improper Storage Count. Attorney Lewin put together a lengthy Memorandum for the DA specifying in detail the disastrous consequences that would follow from either a conviction or a continuance without a finding on the Improper Storage Charge. On December 1, 2016 Attorney Lewin and KW appeared in Lowell District Court. The DA finally gave in and agreed to dismiss the improper storage count. KW took a year probation on the other two counts and is still working full steam ahead in his medical care corporation. KW left the Courthouse a very happy man realizing that he had dodged a big bullet, so to speak!
The key in this case was just never giving up. It took eight months to get the result the client needed and for eight months we advocated and persevered. The wait and persistence paid off.