In Commonwealth v. McGonagle, the Supreme Judicial Court addressed two questions relating to judicial consideration of victim impact statements. In the decision, the Court affirmed the judge’s sentencing decision holding (1) that the “judge’s consideration of victim impact statements ‘as to a recommended sentence’ [under G.L. c.258B, §3(p)] [was] constitutional;”…
In Commonwealth v. Cole C., the SJC weighed in jurisdictional issues relating to the Juvenile Court. Specifically, in its decision, the SJC reversed the Juvenile Court judge’s dismissal of youthful offender indictments against the defendant. The background was as follows. “On April 20, 2016, Boston police arrested the defendant on…
The Appeals Court recently reversed the suppression of a statement made by the defendant to the police upon his arrest in Commonwealth v. Barbosa. The basic facts were as follows: in the course of an investigation of “trafficking of persons for sexual servitude, G.L. c.265, §50,” the police dialed a…
In Commonwealth v. Lastowski, the Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the denial of the defendant’s motion to withdraw his guilty pleas due to the purported ineffectiveness of his attorney. The specifically SJC ruled that the defendant had failed to satisfy the prejudice requirement of the test for ineffectiveness under Commonwealth v. Saferian,…
The Supreme Judicial Court recently issued a decision in Commonwealth v. Holley, affirming the first degree murder convictions of defendants Holley and Pritchett despite (1) the lack of particularity in the warrant pursuant to which the police procured the defendants’ text messages from their cellular telephone service provider; and (2)…
In Commonwealth v. Camblin, the SJC affirmed the denial of the defendant’s “motion to exclude [breathalyzer] evidence as scientifically unreliable” in the defendant’s trial for operating under the influence of alcohol. The background was as follows. The defendant was charged “with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of…
In Commonwealth v. Woollam, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the unauthorized presence of police officers during the grand jury proceedings did not create a substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice and affirmed the defendant’s convictions for first degree murder and a related offense. The background was as follows.…
In In the Matter of a Grand Jury Investigation, the Appeals Court affirmed the trial judge’s order directing the petitioner to enter his personal identifying number (PIN) access code into his Apple iPhone, and the subsequent judgment of contempt that the trial judge imposed on the petitioner for refusing to…
The Supreme Judicial Court recently affirmed the defendant’s conviction of first degree murder in Commonwealth v. Facella, ruling that the judge did not abuse his discretion in admitting evidence during the Commonwealth’s rebuttal regarding misconduct by the defendant that predated the killing by many years. The background was as follows.…
In Commonwealth v. Morin, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the defendant was entitled to a new trial on the indictment charging him with first degree murder, because his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to move to suppress the fruits of the search of the defendant’s cellular telephone by…