David Rossman
Director, Criminal Law Clinical Programs Professor of Law School of Law at Boston University
Schools
- Boston University
Links
Biography
Boston University
Since 1978, David Rossman has served as director of BU Law’s Criminal Law Clinical Programs. He teaches courses in criminal procedure, criminal trial practice, criminal trial advocacy and issues in criminal justice. “Working with young lawyers on actual litigation is immensely satisfying,” he says. “I’m always energized by the new ways in which they attack problems that seem old hat to me.”
Professor Rossman has maintained an active criminal defense practice for nearly three decades. He has represented defendants at all state and federal court levels, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He also has served as an assistant district attorney in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, where he was responsible for grand jury investigations and prosecutions of white-collar crimes. As a Massachusetts special assistant attorney general, he represented bar counsel in federal litigation regarding the rules of ethics that regulate federal prosecutors. “Criminal law is exciting to me because the way it is formulated and implemented by police and the courts helps define the very society in which we live,” he says. “The issues involved are at the forefront of the public’s attention and literally have to do with life and death.”
Additionally, Professor Rossman has served as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and a teaching fellow at Boston College Law School. He has consulted with the Massachusetts Department of Personnel Administration and the U.N.’s Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Program and has written a treatise on guilty pleas, as well as monographs and articles on criminal procedure. In 2000, Professor Rossman spoke on “The Fight Against International Crime and the Threat to Individual Liberties” at the “Globalization and Crime” conference in Mexico City. He is currently involved in a State Department grant that provides assistance to a law school clinic in Siberia.
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Cases
US woman who urged boyfriend to commit suicide to serve 15 months in jail
August 4, 2017
The Straits Times quoting David Rossman, School of Law “A judge on Thursday (Aug 3) sentenced a 20-year-old Massachusetts woman to two and a half years, with 15 months to be served behind bars, for encouraging her teenage boyfriend to make good on plans to kill himself…” Expert quote: “It’s possible,” he told AFP. “But […]
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Activists cheer pot bill provision allowing previously convicted to work in industry
July 22, 2017
Boston Globe quoting David Rossman, School of Law “Tax rates and questions of local control have dominated the conversation surrounding the Legislature’s rewrite of the voter-approved marijuana law…” Expert quote: “…relatively unusual in a statute.” View full article.
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Will guilty verdict in teen texting suicide case lead to new laws on end-of-life issues?
June 19, 2017
The Conversation by David Rossman, School of Law “In Massachusetts, a 17-year-old girl named Michelle Carter repeatedly urged her boyfriend, who had a history of mental illness, to kill himself…” View full article.
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In Texting Suicide Case, Judge Says Michelle Carter Had A ‘Self-Created Duty’ To Try To Stop Her Friend From Killing Himself
June 16, 2017
WBUR interviewing David Rossman, School of Law “A judge in Taunton Friday convicted 20-year-old Michelle Carter of involuntary manslaughter in the suicide of her friend Conrad Roy…” Expert quote: “The jury found that the prisoner who hung himself would not have done so at that time had it not been for the messages that were sent by the […]
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Man Charged With Murder For Allegedly Driving His Partner To Suicide
June 23, 2016
Huffington Post David Rossman, School of Law Who is responsible when a domestic violence victim ends her life?… Expert quote: “It leaves a lot of power in the hands of the prosecutor to bring a criminal prosecution when there is an awful lot of speculation.” View full article
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Decades later, ‘Quincy model’ for domestic violence has a limited legacy
April 16, 2016
Patriot Ledger David Rossman, School of Law In 1993, a television crew from CBS’s “60 Minutes” was dispatched to Quincy to document something unusual happening in the city’s courthouse… Expert quote: “Going way back, the typical response would be to take the guy — it was always the guy — walk him around the block […]
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Pam Smart’s mother condemns judge’s ruling that released murder weapon
April 15, 2016
Eagle-Tribune David Rossman, School of Law Pamela Smart’s mother has filed a complaint with the New Hampshire Judicial Conduct Committee, objecting to the language used in a judge’s decision to release the murder weapon from the highly publicized 1990 Derry murder case… Expert quote: “While it is not usual for a judge to go into […]
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Is encouraging someone to kill themselves a crime? Massachusetts’ highest court will decide in texting case
April 7, 2016
Boston.com David Rossman, School of Law After the state’s highest court hears the stomach-churning details of how Michelle Carter told her boyfriend to kill himself in the last days of his life, they’ll be faced with a decision that goes beyond whether the legal case against the teenage girl should go forward… Expert quote: “That could be construed […]
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Hundreds of OUI cases on hold as defendants challenge breath tests
December 3, 2015
MetroWest Daily News David Rossman, School of Law Hundreds of drunk driving cases in Massachusetts are temporarily on hold as a judge prepares to rule on whether evidence produced by alcohol breath-testing devices used across the state is scientifically sound… Expert quote: “The judge is going to determine whether the possibility of an error is […]
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Middlesex DA’s office shows troubling attitude toward evidence
October 18, 2015
Boston Globe (subscription required) David Rossman, School of Public Health Middlesex County prosecutors had information that could have helped Aisling Brady McCarthy, the nanny accused of killing the 1-year-old she was caring for… Expert quote: “Their job is not just to win. Their job is to do justice, and that means even if they are […]
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