At 4:15am the police received a frantic 911 call from a young lady. She claimed that two young men, TM and TJ, were smashing the windows into her apartment and going after her boyfriend.

The police responded to the home and found that the apartment windows had been smashed. TM and TJ were nowhere to be found. The boyfriend, who had jumped out of a rear window and landed awkwardly, told the police that TM and TJ were coming after him because of a stolen video-game console. The police noticed that a vehicle belonging to the boyfriend had been badly vandalized. Believing at least some of the story, the police charged TM and TJ with, amongst other crimes, Home Invasion.

Home Invasion is a particularly serious crime in Massachusetts. If convicted, it carries a mandatory-minimum sentence of 20 years in state prison.

Attorney Henry Fasoldt became TJ's lawyer. At first glance, Henry noticed that a necessary element of Home Invasion did not appear anywhere in the reports. That is to say, no allegation was made that either TM or TJ actually entered into the home. Home Invasion, by definition, requires that the suspect "knowingly enter the dwelling place of another."

Henry filed a Motion to Dismiss on the second court date. The prosecutor agreed. The charge of Home Invasion was dismissed.

Note: The other criminal charges against TJ remain