Erkan & Sullivan

Criminal defense attorneys. Former prosecutors. We try cases others can't. Getting results, fixing mistakes, advocating with MACDL, and training other lawyers

[Erkan & Sullivan @ErkanSullivan]

How we explain probable cause at a clerk magistrate hearing:
It’s the 40-yard line. Not a touchdown. Not the red zone. Not even the 50.
Just close enough that the magistrate can say there’s a real possibility it happened and you did it.
Which is why the real strategy isn’t what most people think.
https://t.co/8s29vZgfNk

[Erkan & Sullivan @ErkanSullivan]

Murat is looking forward to speaking @MCLENewEngland on 06/09/2026. Hope you will join him! Learn more about the program here: https://t.co/FWX9wEzkjz

[Ryan Sullivan @RyanSullivanLaw]

SC Supreme Court overturned Murdaugh's murder convictions yesterday. Clerk of Court tampered with the jury while writing a book about the trial. Court called it "breathtaking" and "disgraceful."

He's unsympathetic. He still gets a fair trial. That's how the 6th Amendment works.

[Erkan & Sullivan @ErkanSullivan]

"For a non-citizen defendant, the right to remain in the United States may be more important than any jail sentence."

Mass. SJC, Lavrinenko, 473 Mass. 42.

Defense lawyers should read it that way too.

https://t.co/ysBd3JItw7

[Erkan & Sullivan @ErkanSullivan]

The Massachusetts Senate is debating the PROTECT Act this week.

In plain English: ICE would need a judicial warrant before arresting someone inside a state courthouse.

House passed 134-21 in March.

Watch this space.

[Ryan Sullivan @RyanSullivanLaw]

Looking forward to speaking @MCLENewEngland on 05/07/2026. Hope you will join me! Learn more about the program here: https://t.co/nOXACUkqWy

[Erkan & Sullivan @ErkanSullivan]

Three takeaways from Commonwealth v. Mallory (No. 2):

1. Officer time sheets are public records. Get them.

2. Staleness runs to execution, not issuance. The seven-day rule is necessary, not sufficient.

3. Newly discovered evidence does not require a counsel of perfection.

https://t.co/JZMR2RdKae

[Erkan & Sullivan @ErkanSullivan]

What does a criminal defense lawyer do?

We protect people's civil liberties from government overreach.

In ordinary years, that sounds abstract. In these days, it does not.

[Erkan & Sullivan @ErkanSullivan]

"First they came for the immigrants, and we fought back, because we read the rest of the poem."

Nobody should take comfort from not being today's target.

That's today.

[Erkan & Sullivan @ErkanSullivan]

New SJC decision today: Commonwealth v. Arias.
Drug unit follows a man for six miles. He runs a stop sign. Officer decides not to stop him. Twenty-four hours later, same officer radios: "We're looking to stop a vehicle for a drug investigation." Uses yesterday's stop sign as the legal basis.
SJC: no. A traffic violation cannot hang over a suspect indefinitely until police decide it is convenient to use it.
Conviction vacated. Article 14 means something in Massachusetts.

[Erkan & Sullivan @ErkanSullivan]

Body worn cameras were sold as tools for accountability.
They work in both directions.
When an officer’s testimony at trial does not match what the camera recorded that night, cross examination writes itself.
Not guilty. OUI. Newburyport.

[Erkan & Sullivan @ErkanSullivan]

ICE made over 600 courthouse arrests in Mass in 2025. More than double the prior year. Lawmakers are moving toward a ban on courthouse enforcement.
Our client was grabbed mid-trial. The case against him was dismissed.
This is not an immigration debate. It is a due process one.

[Erkan & Sullivan @ErkanSullivan]

SJC heard Commonwealth v. Thomson in March — challenging MA's 21+ handgun license requirement under Bruen.
Court may dodge the 2A question on standing. Pattern forming: MA courts finding off-ramps from Bruen rather than engaging it.
The constitutional landscape for firearms charges here is unsettled. Worth watching.