Selected Cases/Phan

Commonwealth v. Channa Phan

A Lowell murder prosecution, a lead detective with a fatal crash in his past, and a discovery fight that dragged a State Police scandal into daylight.

The Case

The case that put the investigation and investigators on trial

Our fight in Commonwealth v. Phan forced the Middlesex District Attorney to admit, in the middle of jury selection, that the State Police detective who led the homicide investigation had been in a fatal on‑duty crash more than two years earlier, and that hospital records allegedly put his blood alcohol over the legal limit. It was clear there was a cover‑up. That detective has since been indicted for motor vehicle homicide, and 142 other cases are under review.

Then we kept pulling. We moved to dismiss for prosecutorial misconduct. With co‑counsel, we demanded sworn testimony from 19 current and former law‑enforcement officials, including the detective himself. When the State Police assured the court it had completed a “diligent search” for crash records, we moved to hold the agency in contempt, and the withheld cruiser‑camera footage surfaced. We put the prosecutors’ own emails, letters and shifting explanations on the record, in court and on the air, until the story of who knew what, and when, could no longer be managed. The investigation has since widened. Other members of the Middlesex County homicide unit are now under criminal investigation themselves.1

  1. “State Police sergeant, former lieutenant under criminal investigation for alleged coverup in wake of fatal crash, court documents reveal”, Boston.com, June 30, 2026. ↩
It’s now clear there was a cover‑up; the question is how far it goes.
William Dolan · MassLive, March 4, 2026

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Trial and post‑conviction defense in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and the Federal District of Puerto Rico.

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