Medway Resisting Arrest Defense – Dismantling Overblown "Cover Charges" and Combating Law Enforcement Misconduct

Charged with Resisting Arrest in Medway? Exposing the Police "Cover Charge" Tactical Setup.

An arrest or a criminal complaint for Resisting Arrest in Medway is an immediate threat to your personal freedom and reputation. Many individuals are completely blindsided to find themselves facing this charge. They may have simply flinched out of natural reflex when an officer grabbed them without warning, or vocally questioned why they were being detained on a sidewalk near Route 109—only to end up pinned to the ground and slapped with a criminal misdemeanor offense.

In Massachusetts, resisting arrest is treated with intense severity by both judges and prosecutors due to the tight-knit institutional alignment between police departments and the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office. If a conviction hits your record, it leaves a permanent stain on your public CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information) history, falsely branding you to prospective corporate employers, licensing boards, and landlords as a non-compliant, violent threat to law enforcement.

In modern criminal defense practice, a definitive, disturbing pattern surrounds this offense: Resisting arrest is the ultimate "cover charge" utilized by law enforcement.

When an officer uses excessive physical force, executes a highly questionable stop along Route 126 or Holliston Street, or performs an unconstitutional search that yields zero evidence, they face a major administrative problem. To cover up their own misconduct, insulate themselves from a civil rights lawsuit, and justify their aggressive physical behavior, they will tack on a charge of Resisting Arrest. They write a one-sided police report painting the civilian as the violent instigator.

At The Law Offices of Kensley Barrett, I refuse to let a police narrative dictate your future. I slice through the boilerplate terminology inside police logs to expose the truth, preserve your rights, and work to get your charges completely dismissed or won at trial.

II. Understanding Massachusetts Resisting Arrest Laws (M.G.L. c. 268, § 32B)

The crime of resisting arrest is strictly governed by Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 268, Section 32B.

To secure a valid conviction against you, the prosecution must satisfy four explicit elements beyond a reasonable doubt:

1. The Officer Standard: The individual executing the interaction was an authorized law enforcement officer acting under the color of their official authority.

2. The Arrest Element: The officer was actively attempting to effectuate a formal arrest of the defendant or another person.

3. Active Prevention: The defendant actively prevented or attempted to prevent the officer from completing that specific arrest.

4. The Force or Risk Trigger: The defendant executed this resistance knowingly, utilizing either:

• Direct physical force or violence against the officer or another person.

• Explicit threats of immediate physical force or violence against the officer.

• Any other active means that created a substantial risk of causing bodily injury to the police officer or a bystander.

The Vital Distinction: Threshold Inquiries vs. Active Arrest

The statute explicitly states that the officer must be making an arrest. Under long-standing state court precedent, the resisting arrest statute cannot apply if the police have merely detained you for a threshold inquiry or a standard investigative stop.

If you run away, walk away, or struggle against an officer who is merely trying to pull you over for questioning, execute a standard traffic stop, or perform an unconstitutional pat-frisk, you are legally not guilty of resisting arrest because a formal arrest track was never initiated.

III. Statutory Penalties and Stacked Charges

While it is classified as a misdemeanor, the penalties for a resisting arrest conviction carry severe custodial potential:

The Threat of Stacked Charges

Police officers rarely charge resisting arrest in isolation. If you offer the absolute slightest physical resistance—even holding your arms rigidly at your side out of fear, or twisting away to shield yourself from a blow—the Medway Police will almost universally stack the docket with severe companion offenses, including:

• Assault and Battery on a Police Officer (M.G.L. c. 265, § 13D)

• Disorderly Conduct (c. 272 § 53)

• Malicious Destruction of Property (if an officer's uniform or radio is torn during the struggle)

IV. Wrentham District Court – Case Proceedings

If you are arrested, cited, or summonsed for resisting arrest within the town boundaries of Medway, your case will be routed and litigated exclusively at the local regional center:

📍 Wrentham District Court

60 East Street

Wrentham, MA 02093

📞 Phone: (508) 384-3106

• First Justice: Hon. Thomas L. Finigan

• Clerk-Magistrate: Pamela Gauvin-Fernandes

Inside the Wrentham courthouse, I move rapidly to secure every single scrap of digital evidence before it can be lost or overwritten. I issue formal legal demands to the Medway Police Department and State Police to preserve all Cruiser Dashcam Footage, Body-Worn Camera (BWC) Video, Booking Station Surveillance Loops, and Police Radio Transmission Logs.

Objective video evidence is our absolute best weapon—it routinely reveals that while the officer's written report claimed the defendant "lunged aggressively," the raw footage shows the defendant was entirely compliant until subjected to sudden, unprovoked physical force.

V. Strategic Defensive Frameworks to Win Your Case

Defending against a resisting arrest charge requires an analytical deconstruction of the timeline, paired with the aggressive assertion of constitutional protections. I deploy targeted legal strategies to beat the charge:

• Asserting the Affirmative Defense of Excessive Police Force: Under the landmark Supreme Judicial Court ruling in Commonwealth v. Moreira, while an individual cannot use force to resist a technically unlawful or peaceful arrest, there is an absolute right to self-defense if an officer uses unreasonable or excessive force. If an officer uses excessive physical force to subdue you, you are legally permitted to use a proportionate, reasonable degree of force to defend yourself from physical injury. Once we present evidence of police brutality, the legal burden shifts entirely to the state—the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer did not use excessive force.

• Proving a Lack of Knowing Awareness: To convict you, the state must prove you knew you were being placed under arrest by a valid law enforcement officer. If an undercover, plainclothes detective jumps out of an unmarked vehicle near Milford Street at night without displaying credentials or announcing their intent to arrest, any natural physical reaction to break away or fight off an attacker is an absolute defense.

• The "Arrest Was Already Complete" Rule: Under Massachusetts case law, resisting must happen before or during the active application of custody controls. Once you are fully handcuffed, secured, and placed into the back of a marked cruiser, the arrest is legally complete. Any subsequent physical non-compliance or uncooperative behavior inside the booking cell or station—while it may trigger other minor complaints—cannot legally support a charge of resisting arrest.

• Securing Pre-Trial Diversion / Section 87 Tracks: For first-time offenders, local college students, or working corporate professionals, I leverage my professional standing with the Norfolk County prosecutors to secure a Pre-Trial Probation track under M.G.L. c. 276, § 87. This framework ensures that after a brief compliance window, the entire case is completely dismissed without an admission of guilt, keeping your public record 100% clean.

VI. Contact Our Medway Resisting Arrest Defense Attorney Today

If you have been released from custody following a turbulent encounter with law enforcement, do not contact the police department to complain or post your narrative on social media channels. Internal affairs investigators and detectives will track those public statements and use your words to lock in the mandatory elements of intent, location, and physical contact to strengthen their prosecution against you.

Let me handle the investigation and build your defense inside the Wrentham courtroom. Contact me immediately to secure a completely confidential evaluation of your case options.

Massachusetts Office 📍 572 Washington Street, Suite 21

Wellesley, MA 02482

📞 Phone: (857) 229-2442

Rhode Island Office 📍 1000 Chapel View Blvd, Suite 260

Cranston, RI 02920

📞 Phone: (401) 425-4059

🌐 Website: www.krbarrettlaw.com

Put a relentless, strategic trial attorney in your corner. Call today.

Firm Contact Information

The Law Offices of Kensley Barrett

572 Washington Street, Suite 21, Wellesley, MA 02482

Phone: (857) 229-2442

Website: www.krbarrettlaw.com