The Supreme Judicial Court recently issued a decision – Commonwealth v. Gerhardt – on the admissibility of field sobriety tests for marijuana use. The decision was issued in response to four reported questions by a trial judge in Worcester Country. In its opinion, the SJC set forth guidelines regarding “the admissibility…
In Commonwealth v. Brown, a unanimous Supreme Judicial Court, pursuant to its authority under G. L. c.278, §33E, reduced the defendant’s conviction of first degree felony-murder to second degree murder, and a majority of the Court ruled “that the scope of felony-murder liability should be prospectively narrowed, [such] that, in…
In Commonwealth v. Perez, the Supreme Judicial Court reviewed a juvenile defendant’s sentence and ruled “that where a juvenile is sentenced for a nonmurder offense or offenses and the aggregate time to be served prior to parole eligibility exceeds that applicable to a juvenile convicted of murder, the sentence cannot…
In an important decision for indigent defendant, the Supreme Judicial Court recently issued an opinion – Commonwealth v. Brangan – holding that a judge must consider a defendant’s ability to pay when setting bail at a bail hearing. The SJC specifically ruled that “in setting the amount of bail, whether under…
The Supreme Judicial Court recently issued a decision – Commonwealth v. Francis – addressing plea agreements and when the court may order the specific performance of such an agreement by the Commonwealth. In its decision, the SJC reversed the allowance of the defendant’s motion for a new trial, ruling that…
In an important recent decision – Commonwealth v. Lunn – the SJC held that Massachusetts court officers had no authority, under either Federal or Massachusetts law, “to arrest and hold [Lunn] solely on the basis of a Federal civil immigration detainer.” The background was as follows. “After the sole pending…
In Commonwealth v. Mauricio, the SJC reversed the denial of a motion to suppress images retrieved by the police during a warrantless search of a digital camera that was seized from the defendant’s person. The background was as follows. A police officer (Collins) “received a report that two ‘suspicious parties’…
In Koe v. Commissioner of Probation, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that G.L. c.276, §100A(6), which prohibits a former level two sex offender from sealing a criminal record, violates state rights to due process and is therefore unconstitutional as applied under the circumstances present in this case. The background was…
The Appeals Court’s recent decision in Commonwealth v. Martin reversed the denial of the defendant’s motion to suppress evidence seized by the police after they made a warrantless entry into a residence “while chasing the defendant, who [had] fled … during a stop for a civil infraction of marijuana possession.” The…
In Commonwealth v. Widener, the Appeals Court vacated the sentence imposed on the defendant pursuant to the armed career criminal act (ACCA), G.L. c.269, §10G(c), and remanded the case for resentencing. The background was as follows. In connection with an investigation into a series of burglaries, the police searched a…