Massachusetts Criminal Defense · Worcester County, Massachusetts 508-450-5545  ·  cashmanlawoffice@gmail.com
Cashman Legal — Michael G. Cashman, Esq.

Massachusetts Criminal Defense · Michael G. Cashman, Esq.

When your freedom is at stake, experience matters.

Michael G. Cashman has spent 31 years in Massachusetts criminal courtrooms — roughly 20 defending people accused of crimes and 11 prosecuting them, most recently on the homicide unit of the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office. He provides direct, strategic and personal representation from the first conversation through resolution.

Request a Consultation Explore Criminal Defense
31 years
In criminal courtrooms
11 years
As a prosecutor
20 years
For the defense
Direct
Attorney contact, start to finish
Cashman Legal — criminal defense, legal strategy, constitutional rights

Criminal Defense

Focused on the cases that matter most.

Criminal charges reach past the courtroom. They affect your freedom, your work, your family and your future. A strong defense begins with a careful examination of the facts, the evidence and the law — before anyone talks about how the case should end.

01

Felony Defense

Charges carrying state prison exposure, indicted cases, and matters that move from District Court to Superior Court.

 02

Drug Offenses

Possession, distribution, and trafficking cases — where the search, the lab, and the informant are usually the case.

 03

Homicide

The most serious cases the Commonwealth brings — handled from both sides of the courtroom across this career.

 04

Violent Crimes

Cases where the Commonwealth alleges force or the threat of force, and where self-defense and identification often matter most.

 05

Assault & Battery

From simple assault and battery through aggravated charges and cases involving dangerous weapons.

 06

Domestic Violence

Charges the Commonwealth prosecutes whether or not the complainant wants to proceed, alongside 209A orders.

 07

Sex Offenses

Allegations carrying registration consequences and lifelong collateral effects that demand careful, early defense work.

 08

OUI / Operating Under the Influence

First offense through subsequent offense, breath test and refusal cases, and the separate RMV consequences that run on their own clock.

 09

Firearms Offenses

Unlicensed carrying, storage, and possession charges, plus the licensing consequences that follow a criminal case.

 10

White Collar / Financial Crimes

Larceny, fraud, and financial allegations built on documents, records, and long investigative timelines.

 11

Record Sealing

Clearing a Massachusetts record once you are eligible — administrative sealing through the Commissioner of Probation, and judicial sealing for cases that ended without a conviction.

 12

Criminal Investigations

Representation before charges issue — when a client is contacted by police, served a target letter, or given a clerk-magistrate hearing notice.

See all practice areas

Why Cashman Law

Experience without the law-firm machinery.

Experience

31 years in Massachusetts criminal courtrooms, through every stage of a case.

Both Sides

Years spent prosecuting — including homicide cases through 2026 — which means knowing how the Commonwealth builds a file before it is ever handed over.

Preparation

A strong defense begins with understanding the facts, the evidence and the applicable law — thoroughly, and early.

Personal Attention

Clients communicate directly with their attorney and receive individualized attention rather than being passed through a bureaucracy.

About

A lawyer who knows the courtroom.

Michael G. Cashman, Esq. has spent 31 years in Massachusetts criminal courtrooms, on both sides of them. That work is done standing up: arguing bail, litigating motions to suppress, cross-examining witnesses, and trying cases to judges and juries.

He founded Cashman Legal to practice the way he believes criminal defense should be practiced: one lawyer who knows the file, who answers the phone, and who tells a client the truth about the case rather than what the client wants to hear.

Meet Michael

Michael G. Cashman, Esq., Massachusetts criminal defense attorney

Publishing

Books by Michael G. Cashman

Books on criminal law, criminal defense and the justice system, written for lawyers and for the people who find themselves inside it.

The Cole Doctrine — book cover
Legal thriller · Kindle Edition

The Cole Doctrine

A legal thriller about a man who understands the criminal justice system well enough to weaponize it — and the detective who has to prove the impossible.

$12.99Buy on Amazon
What the Jury Never Heard — book cover
Non-fiction · Paperback · Kindle

What the Jury Never Heard

In every high-profile trial there are two versions of the case: the one the public watches, and the one the jury is legally allowed to hear.

$9.99 paperback · $5.99 KindleBuy on Amazon

Books & Publications

For clients & families

Start by knowing where you stand.

Every client of this office gets a copy of the guide below at the start of a case. It is free to download here. It is general information, not legal advice, and reading it does not make you a client — but it will tell you what is about to happen and what not to do while it does.

Your Case, Your Rights
32-page guide · free PDF

Your Case, Your Rights

A client's guide to a Massachusetts criminal case — what your rights actually are, what to do and not do while your case is open, and what happens between arraignment and trial. Written for the people I represent, and given to every client at the start of a case.

  • Eleven rights explained in plain language, each one sourced to the constitutional provision, statute or case it comes from.
  • What to do and what not to do while a case is pending — phones, social media, no-contact orders, who you can safely talk to.
  • The process from arraignment through trial, covering District Court and Superior Court separately.
  • Bail, dangerousness hearings under section 58A, and GPS conditions — what the judge is actually deciding.
  • Consequences most people are never warned about: immigration, CORI, and when a record can be sealed.
FreeDownload the guidePDF · 32 pages · 442 KB

For attorneys Trial-prep systems, question banks and motion templates for defense counsel are published separately. All legal tools & resources

Articles & Commentary

A working knowledge center for Massachusetts criminal law.

High-Profile Criminal Cases

A Hung Jury Is Not a Not Guilty

Twelve people who can't agree isn't an acquittal, isn't double jeopardy, and isn't the end of the case. Here's what actually happens next, and why the second trial is a very different fight.

Michael G. Cashman · September 2, 2026 Evidence

The Jury Never Heard the Number That Would Have Convicted My Client

My client blew nearly three times the legal limit. The jury never heard it, and came back not guilty. A criminal trial is not a search for truth — it is a search for admissible evidence.

Michael G. Cashman · July 31, 2026 High-Profile Criminal Cases

What Happens When a Massachusetts Jury Says, "We Can't Agree"?

The Lindsay Clancy jury has told the judge it cannot reach a unanimous verdict. That sounds like a hung jury. Legally, it isn't — not yet. Massachusetts builds several steps between "we can't agree" and a mistrial.

Michael G. Cashman · September 1, 2026

All articles & commentary

Fiction

The Cole Doctrine

A legal fiction crime drama. Written by a lawyer who has argued these cases from both sides of the courtroom.

See the book

Books

Fiction and non-fiction on criminal law and the justice system.

Articles

Commentary on Massachusetts criminal law as it develops.

Video

Criminal law explained, one question at a time.

Cashman Law Video Library

Criminal law, explained.

High-Profile Cases

POV: Criminal Defense Lawyer regarding Lindsay Clancy Trial

A criminal defense lawyer's perspective on the Lindsay Clancy trial, a Massachusetts case widely covered in the press. Commentary on public reporting only — this office has no involvement in the matter.

High-Profile Cases

POV: Criminal Defense Lawyer regarding Lindsay Clancy Trial

A criminal defense lawyer's perspective on the Lindsay Clancy trial, a Massachusetts case widely covered in the press. Commentary on public reporting only — this office has no involvement in the matter.

High-Profile Cases

POV: Criminal Defense Lawyer regarding Lindsay Clancy Trial

A criminal defense lawyer's perspective on the Lindsay Clancy trial, a Massachusetts case widely covered in the press. Commentary on public reporting only — this office has no involvement in the matter.

Visit the video library

Guides to the process

Plain-language explanations of how Massachusetts criminal procedure actually works, written with citations to the statutes and decisions they rest on.

What happens after an arrest in Massachusetts

Arraignment, bail, dangerousness hearings, and the clerk-magistrate hearing that can end a case before it starts.

How Massachusetts murder and manslaughter charges work

The degrees, felony-murder after Commonwealth v. Brown, sentencing and parole, and the automatic appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court.

How a Massachusetts criminal case moves from charge to appeal

What the prosecutor must disclose, how motions to suppress work under article 14, the speedy trial clock, jury size, and appeal deadlines.

What a continuance without a finding really means

What you admit to, what happens when you complete it, and why it still counts as a conviction for immigration and for counting prior OUIs.

Sealing a Massachusetts criminal record

Waiting periods, how an acquittal differs from a dismissal, and the timing detail that gets most applications turned away.

Request a Consultation

Discuss your case with an experienced criminal defense attorney.

Every case begins with a conversation. Tell me what you are facing and I will tell you honestly what I think.

Request a Consultation Call 508-450-5545