Legal Question in Criminal Law in Massachusetts

graffiti - felony?

On Friday I was arrested for ''Graffiti''. It happened when my friend Robert and I were coming back from a party around 3am, when my friend and I turned a corner (we were NOT seen in the act) and were approached by an undercover officer. He told us to hand over what ever we had in our pockets and we did, we had multiple paint pens, but not because we were ''tagging'' but because my friend and I like to buy plain white shoes very cheap, paint them, and either wear them or resell them. We will bring an example of this to court. After discovering the paint pens we were cuffed (but not told why exactly) then the officer took us to the site of a ''tag'' he thought I did. He looked through my wallet and found a doodle in it from years ago. The doodle did not say the same thing as the tag, but I'm guessing a few of the letters looked similar and he thought it was enough to throw us in jail for the night. I have no past criminal record for tagging, I have one charge for alcohol possession which is pending expulsion

We were bailed out the next day for $40 a piece and we have to go to Boston Municipal Court on Tuesday at 9:00am. I was wondering what you think the possibility of the state charging me with a felony


Asked on 4/01/07, 7:24 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Craig J. Tiedemann Kajko, Weisman & Colasanti, LLP

Re: graffiti - felony?

Assuming you are charged with violating GL ch. 266, s 126B, you face a misdemeanor not a felony. The statute also provides for the suspension of your driver's license and payment of restitution based on the value of the property allegedly defaced.

You might qualify for a Continued Without a Finding disposition, depending on the status and disposition of your prior criminal history. You might also have a defensible case at trial if the officer did not actually see you tagging, and there are no other witnesses. Its hard to say more beyond this without knowing everything.

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Answered on 4/01/07, 9:25 pm


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