Elyse M. Hershon, Esq

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.

05/05/2026

“The defense has the advantage here, and I’m not just saying that because I’m a defense attorney and a Pats fan.”
I joined Boston 25’s Anchor Mark Ockerbloom Boston 25 to break down the first day of the NFL player Stefon Diggs’ assault trial, the former Patriots star accused of assaulting and strangling his personal chef in 2025 around the time the Pats were in the playoffs.
On Monday, a jury was selected and opening statements were made. The 1st witness was the Commonwealth’s main witness who claims Diggs assaulted her in her bedroom at his residence. She was subject to brutal cross-examination by Diggs’ defense team.
The defense went after the witness for inconsistent statements, impeachment with deleted text messages she did not give to police, alleged demands for money, jealousy over a female business “partner”, and more. The witness fought back and strenuously defended herself.
The trial continues today, where the personal chef is back on the stand and cross-examination resumes. Stay tuned for more on this fiery trial.

05/01/2026

A sad case out of Wellesley, MA this week: a mother has been charged with the murder of her two children. It is being reported that she was in the midst of a contentious divorce and custody battle, and also planned to take her own life.
What happens next? What kind of defense is there? Could postpartum depression be an available defense? Boston 25 News wants to know.
The simple answer is: it is too early to know at this stage of the case. I anticipate as we learn more about the details surrounding what led up to the deaths, there are likely to be significant mental health issues at play.
The defense will likely hire a Forensic psychologist to evaluate her mental state, her medical history, her state of mind, and other behavior leading up to the deaths. Competency and her criminal responsibility are two possible defenses to criminal charges under the mental health umbrella.
It is always extremely difficult when there are child victims. The details and circumstances that this family was dealing preceding this will be relevant to understanding the full context of what happened.
In the meantime, she will be transported to Massachusetts and charged formally in a Massachusetts court for murder, and likely held without bail. While the prosecution begins to gather evidence, her defense team will also gather their own information about her mental health in building her defense.

04/28/2026

New article with CNN about whether a defendant should testify in a criminal trial. Will they? Should they? What are the pros and cons? Read below for what I have to say. 

Defense attorneys generally recommend against taking the stand, wary of subjecting a defendant to a rigorous cross-examination. But there are exceptions.

04/24/2026

Thank you Boston 25 News and Bob Ward Boston 25 for inviting me to comment on the huge development in the Sandra Birchmore murder case: the former police officer’s DNA was found on the duffel bag strap that was around the victim’s neck, according to the district attorney’s office press release last week.

Former Stoughton police officer Matthew Farwell is charged with Birchmore’s murder, accused of staging it as a su***de. According to the FBI affidavit, citing cell records, Farwell believed the baby to be his. DNA testing later showed it was not his baby.
Sandra Birchmore was 23-years old and pregnant when she found dead by an apparent hanging in her apartment. Her death was initially ruled a su***de by the Massachusetts state medical examiner. However, the FBI became involved in the case and after an independent investigation determined her cause of death to be murder.
Farwell is alleged to have begun an illicit sexual relationship with Birchmore when she was 15, having met through a mentorship program at the police department. The affidavit states the relationship continued until her death, and that Farwell believed that she was carrying his baby and killed them to avoid getting exposed.
I discuss with Boston 25 how DNA evidence is usually not enough to convict someone of a crime without more. Juries find DNA very compelling - we call this the “CSI effect“ - however it is important to know that DNA usually can not tell us *when* or *how* it got there.
For example: if Farwell‘s DNA is in fact on that duffel bag strap - is it because he used that bag frequently to travel and go to the gym?
Or is it on the strap because he used it to strangle Birchmore?
This case is scheduled for trial in the fall in federal court in Massachusetts.