Legal Question in Criminal Law in Massachusetts

Re: misrepresentation of lawyer

I think you mean to say that the "victim," not the "plaintiff," wanted to drop charges, because the "plaintiff" in a criminal matter is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Unfortunately, however, the victim does not have any authority to drop criminal charges, but rather that authority rests with the district attorney. The answer to your question is that you can go back to seek that the charges be dropped pursuant to a procedure called a motion to "revise and revoke." However, that may or may not be advisable for you to do, because you also run the risk of having the court impose a more serious penalty once you open up the case once again. One question: when you say that you got "probation," do you mean that you got something called "pre-trial probation," or was the probation part of a "continued without finding ("CWOF") disposition? Pre-trial probation is a relatively lenient disposition (involving probation, but no admission of guilt), while the CWOF is a bit harsher (because it involves admission of facts otherwise sufficient to establish guilt). Under both pre-trial probation and CWOF, however, the charges are dismissed if the probation period is completed without further significant trouble with the law. In any event, depending on the circumstances of your case, you should think long and hard about whether to go forward with a motion to revise and revoke. A bulletin board such as this one isn't the best way to handle this however. You should discuss this matter and all of your options directly with your attorney.

Re: misrepresentation of lawyer

It depends on a number of factors. Did the court accept this disposition?