Case dismissed by Magistrate, Criminal Harassment MGL c.265 § 43A(a)

• Steven Topazio wrote this June 25, 2019 at 4:04 pm

The client, a 37-year-old professional, received a summons to appear for a Magistrate Hearing, hired Attorney Topazio to represent him.  The client and the complainant are known to each other and reside in the same housing complex.  Attorney Topazio learned that there was on-going harassment between the parties that has been going on for years.  It was alleged that the client was ordering magazines about guns and weapons and having copies of the Koran sent to the complainant’s home so that she would be placed on a watch list.  The complaint also alleged that the client has tampered with her laundry on multiple occasions and placing animal excrement in her wash to ruin it.  According to statute, whoever willfully and maliciously engages in a knowing pattern of conduct or series of acts over a period of time directed at a specific person, which seriously alarms that person and would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress, shall be guilty of the crime of criminal harassment and shall be punished by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than 21/2 years or by a fine of not more than $1,000, or by both such fine and imprisonment.  Despite the fact that the statute provides a provision that the conduct or acts described in the statute include, but not be limited to, conduct or acts conducted by mail, Attorney Topazio persuaded the Magistrate to dismiss the complaint against his client.