The Appeals Court recently issued a decision in Commonwealth v. Raspberry, which affirmed the denial of the defendant’s motions to suppress guns seized from her vehicle. In the decision, the Appeals Court ruled (1) that the warrantless search of CSLI (cell site location information) by the police was justified pursuant…
In Commonwealth v. Fragata, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the evidence was insufficient to support the defendant’s conviction of intimidating a witness under G.L. c.268, §13B(1)(c)(i). The background was as follows. “[T]o convict the defendant of witness intimidation under [the statute], the Commonwealth had to prove that (1) a possible…
In Commonwealth v. Hart, the Appeals Court ruled that the judge did not abuse her discretion in denying the defendant’s motion for a mistrial due to juror bias. The background was as follows. The defendant is African-American. Prior to the commencement of proceedings on the third day of the defendant’s…
In Commonwealth v. Eldred, the Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the revocation of the defendant’s probation and concluded (1) that “a judge may order a defendant who is addicted to drugs to remain drug free as a condition of probation”; and (2) that where a defendant has violated that condition, the…
In Commonwealth v. O’Leary, the Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the dismissal of the indictments charging the defendant with various motor vehicle offenses because the police did not comply with the requirements for issuance of citations set forth in the so-called “no-fix” statute (G.L. c.90C, §2). The background was as follows.…
The Supreme Judicial Court reversed the defendant’s convictions of first-degree murder and a related offense in Commonwealth v. Combs. The Court based its decision on the ground that the evidence was insufficient to prove that the victim, whose body was discovered in Connecticut, was killed in Massachusetts. The background was…
In Commonwealth v. D.M., the Supreme Judicial Court reversed the single justice’s denial of the Commonwealth’s petition for relief from an interlocutory order of the Juvenile Court, requiring the Commonwealth to reveal the identity of an informant. The background was as follows. “Acting on information provided by a confidential informant, the…
In Commonwealth v. Vallejo, the Supreme Judicial Court vacated the judge’s order requiring that the defendant pay restitution because the judge’s findings were inadequate as to whether the defendant had sufficient resources to fulfill that obligation. The background was as follows. “The defendant … admitted to facts sufficient for a…
In Commonwealth v. Monteiro, the Appeals Court reversed the suppression of items seized by the police from the defendant’s apartment because the judge erroneously ruled that “the information provided by a first-time, confidential police informant (CI) was [not] sufficiently corroborated by a single, imperfectly executed controlled ‘buy’ of cocaine for…
The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the defendant’s conviction of first-degree murder in Commonwealth v. Gardner, despite the fact that the prosecutor questioned the defendant about his pre-arrest silence at trial. In the ruling, the Court stated that although the prosecutor’s questions and comments concerning the defendant’s pre-arrest silence were improper,…