Elyse M. Hershon, Esq

06/10/2026

Someone asked me - how do you juggle doing news coverage and defending your clients in court at the same time?
My answer? Crime doesn’t sleep and neither do I.
The first thing to fall off during an insane work week is food, the second thing to fall off is sleep, but never coffee. There is always coffee, specifically espresso.
Last night I interrupted my intense hearing prep to discuss with NBC News Proctor’s extremely racist and hate fueled messages between his cop peers and the potential wide reaching effects they could have on the thousands criminal cases he’s investigated.
If you recall, Proctor was the lead investigator from the Mass State Police in the Karen Read case. He testified at the first trial, took a leave from the job, was fired for misconduct, and (wisely) did not testify in Read’s second trial, in which she was acquitted.
Proctor - among the other troopers in the Massachusetts state police, Canton police and other law-enforcement - was named in a scathing lawsuit Read’s legal team filed last week. As a result of that lawsuit - and because the feds took Proctor’s personal phone almost 2 years ago - some of those text messages have been released to the public. They are horrific. More on that in another post.
Today I was in Superior Court fighting the government on unreasonable search and seizure by police. Law-enforcement cannot circumvent the constitutional rights of its citizens.
I raised numerous constitutional challenges within one case. This is the part of the job I enjoy the most: preparing cross-examination of police, crafting legal arguments, reading cases, finding cases that support my defense, while drawing distinctions in my case against the reasoning of a case that doesn’t support my defense. And then getting up in court to defend my client.
Sleep? Pffft.

06/05/2026

Joined CNN Anchor/Legal Analyst Laura Coates and CNN and Legal Correspondent Jean Casarez, for post-court analysis of Brendan Banfield’s sentencing to life without parole (LWOP) by a Virginia Judge today.
Banfield was convicted of the murders of his wife and a stranger he lured to the house to frame as an intruder, with the help of his au pair girlfriend, who testified against him for a reduced sentence for herself.
The defendant testified in his own trial, but the jury convicted him on all counts. The Defendant spoke again today, asserting his innocence by pointing out the flaws in the prosecutor’s case, the failed jury system, and pointing the finger at one of the victims he was convicted of killing.
No matter what the Defendant or the witnesses said today, the Judge was required to impose the mandatory sentence of LWOP. There is no discretion under the statute to change it. However the Judge still rebuked the defendant’s behavior and demeanor in open court

Stay tuned for clips. You can view this and other ongoing trial coverage on the CNN app.
Thank you to
Laura Coates
Jean Casarez
CNN

06/03/2026

The person accused of driving the wrong way and colliding with a MA state trooper while allegedly drunk never made it into the courthouse yesterday, as ICE was waiting in the parking lot to detain him.
This is the second wrong way driving case injuring a MA state trooper in a row: the first Trooper was killed by a wrong way driver on the same highway, just one town over. Many lawmakers are calling for accountability.
reached out to ask me what happens next with the criminal matter. In short? Nothing. When ICE takes custody of an individual, the person can be deported without ever returning to state court.
Why? The Supremacy clause: federal law trumps state law. ICE need not comply with state orders or state laws, and usually don’t. State Judges do not have authority to order ICE to return the person to court or stop the arrest. Attorneys are not allowed to interfere with federal agents either; it is considered “obstruction of justice”, with far reaching consequences, such as arrests and criminal charges.
Not only does federal detention deprive the accused of their Constitutional right to see their innocence through on a criminal case, but the victim(s) are also deprived of their ability to go to court, to testify, to seek resolution and obtain closure.
I explain how the accused will remain in “warrant status” indefinitely until they appear back in state court, which is highly unlikely to happen once they’re taken into federal custody.
If a person is deported with a criminal case pending, and never comes back to this country, then the criminal case will not proceed. However, if this person were to return to Massachusetts (or another state) at any time, the person could be detained by state authorities, and brought to state court to face a judge on this case, whether it’s in 1 year, 5 years, or 20.
Bottom line? ICE prevents our justice system from proceeding as it should in accordance with the Constitution, and prevents all parties from having their day in court. legalanalyst

05/22/2026

“Hershon, the legal expert...”
—CNN
See my take on the abrupt end to the Virginia Ebony Parker school shooter trial yesterday that shocked everyone.

A Virginia circuit court judge on Thursday dismissed criminal charges against Ebony Parker, a former elementary school assistant principal, in a case connected to a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in January 2023.

05/19/2026

Back on CNN last week with Anchor Laura Coates, a former federal prosecutor, and Jean Casarez, Senior legal correspondent and attorney herself, as well as Joey Jackson, a lawyer and CNN contributor.
Kouri Richins, the Utah Mother convicted of both aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder of her husband by poison was in court for her sentencing.
Utah has “indeterminant” sentencing, meaning that the judge can decide what Richins gets as a sentence: life without parole (“LWOP” is a minimum mandatory sentence with no opportunity to get out of prison) or life with the possibility of parole, (she could get out on parole in ~30 years).

In Massachusetts, the penalty for a 1st-degree murder conviction is mandatory LWOP - so the sentencing hearings here can not and do not have any effect on the judge’s decision; the judge is bound by statute.

This means it is even more crucial in states like Utah for the defendant to present themselves as sympathetic to convince the Judge to give them the lesser sentence: but that didn’t happen here.
Instead of asking for leniency, or mitigating her circumstances to the judge, Richins slapped the hand of the judge who is about to sentence her by insulting the Justice system, disparaging the jury, accusing her deceased husband of adultery, and sent a message that she is the true victim.
The Judge launched her with his decision and sentenced her to LWOP, in addition to consecutive sentences for the other fraud-related convictions.

05/18/2026

📺 I got my next assignment with CNN: The Ebony Parker trial: a Virginia Assistant Principal charged with 8 counts of felony child neglect, after a teacher at her school was shot by a 6 year-old student. The teacher survived and is expected to testify.
Jury empanelment began today. Extensive voir dire questioning of jurors was likely, given the sensitive nature of school shootings, premature strong opinions, and the intense media coverage.
The basis for prosecuting the assistant principal is that this was a preventative tragedy and she failed to act. She was allegedly warned that this particular student - with a history of violent and disruptive behavior - might have a gun on the day of the shooting by multiple sources. In a special grand jury report released to the public, it is alleged that Parker received reports about a possible gun with this child and for almost two hours failed to confiscate the gun, or the backpack, remove the child from the classroom, or take some other preventive measure.
The defense is anticipated to be that Parker is not responsible for preventing this tragedy, was not able to, and therefore is not criminally liable.
The six-year-old‘s mother was also charged and has pled guilty relating to her six-year-old’s access to the gun, and is doing a two-year jail sentence.
If convicted of all counts - 1 charge for each bullet in the gun - Parker faces up to 30 years in prison. However only one bullet was discharged.
In a civil suit last fall, the teacher who was shot sued Parker (and other school administrators who were dismissed from the case) for $40 million. After a civil jury trial, the jury awarded the teacher $10 million.
More to come as the trial gets underway.

05/15/2026

A day in the life:
✅ AM Legal analysis with CNN
✅ Watched witnesses testify at the sentencing of convicted murderer Kouri Richins, live with CNN, and prepared for more legal analysis
✅ Drafted a court motion
✅ Continued watching victim/witness impact statements for CNN while in an uber to Superior Court
✅ Met with prosecutor at court, with one AirPod in my ear listening to the hearing in Utah
✅ Argued a hearing in court, which ran late
✅ Jumped in an uber, unpaused livestream of Richins sentencing hearing; Defendant Richins spoke for the first time since her arrest 3 years ago, which is extremely rare.
✅ Told the Uber driver I had 10 minutes to get back to my office to be on live TV.
✅ Uber driver (allegedly) ran 2 to 3 red lights, cut several people off, and used his horn to get me back on time. He understood the assignment.
✅ All while mentally preparing my legal analysis for CNN
✅ Ran upstairs and joined CNN for post-hearing analysis with minutes to spare.
✅ Was live on CNN for ~ 30 minutes
✅ Ran to my car to get to teach my weekly class.
That was just Wednesday.

05/12/2026

Attended Bob Ward Boston 25 and Rich Teahan’s first book signing for their first book! As you know I do a lot of the legal analysis and trial coverage for Boston 25 news with Bob Ward, one of my biggest supporters. I am happy to support him and celebrate his new book, which happens to be in my favorite genre - true crime - and the infamous Wh**ey Bulger.
Rich Teahan is a retired FBI agent who flew with Wh**ey Bulger on a jet after his capture, and spent 6 hours interrogating him. The book lays out all the fascinating details with one of America’s most notable mobsters, turned informant.
The book immediately sold out from the publisher! You can get your copy now on Amazon. Congrats Bob and Rich! **ey

05/06/2026

A quick verdict of NOT GUILTY for Stefon Diggs, NFL star and former Pats player, who was on trial for the last 2 days on assault and battery and felony strangulation charges. I join Rachel Keller at Boston 25 News to break down my reaction to the verdict and why the jury acquitted him.
Diggs’ live-in personal chef, who had a personal relationship with him at one time, accused Diggs of slapping and choking her back in December 2025. She was on the stand for 2 days.
Listen here as I summarize the problems with her credibility and why she was not a credible witness.
Unfortunately, Diggs was released by the Patriots following the Super Bowl, and is unsigned at the moment. Hopefully, he will be signed now that his name has been cleared of these false accusations.

05/05/2026

Stefon Diggs, former Patriots player, just found NOT GUILTY on all counts. Do you agree?
I’ll be on Boston 25 News at 5pm to discuss.