Traditionally, law students and lawyers themselves were held to the standard that burglary could only occur at night, and must have been an unlawful entering of a dwelling.  In recent years, however, Massachusetts considers burglary the breaking and entering of any building at any time.

A burglary charge can quickly escalate from a misdemeanor to a felony dependent upon the time of day.  The degree of punishment is dependent on whether the facts warrant a misdemeanor charge or a felony charge.  Either way the penalty is severe.  Even for unarmed burglary, one may be sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.

There are collateral consequences to these charges as well, including loss of employment, difficulty finding future employment, the loss of certain privileges including the right to possess a firearm and the right to vote.  Because of this, you need to contact an experienced and aggressive criminal defense attorney who can help get your charges dismissed, or who can negotiate with the local prosecutor to reduce the charges to a lesser offense such as larceny, shoplifting, or even trespassing.

Criminal Attorney Bonavita’s defense strategy includes a thorough independent investigation where we send the prosecutor extensive requests to produce documents, and where we interview witnesses, obtain statements, or gather other evidence.  When needed, we’ll even consider employing private investigators to help put together the strongest defense.

If there is physical evidence against our client, such as the existence of stolen items in his or her home, office, or car, we want to make sure that the evidence was properly acquired, that search warrants were correctly executed and that law enforcement officials obtained the warrant in compliance with the law.