Alicea v. Commonwealth

After spending three and one-half years in State prison, Luis Alicea filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts against his former defense *229counsel, Lawrence J. McGuire, an attorney employed by the Committee for Public Counsel Services.1 Alicea’s complaint asserted claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress and violation of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1988.2 These claims were based on Alicea’s assertions that he should have received a one-year sentence in connection with his plea of guilty to a firearm offense, and that McGuire’s conduct, allegedly…