In a recent case – Commonwealth v. Fredericq – the Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the allowance of the defendant’s motion to suppress the fruits of the police action tracking the location of a cell phone for six days. The basic facts were as follows. A homicide investigation led to the…
In Commonwealth v. Judge, the Appeals Court affirmed the allowance of the defendant’s motion to suppress the fruits of a routine home visit by his parole officer. The Court’s decision rested on the grounds that the officer “lacked reasonable suspicion to enter the [defendant’s] bedroom,” and that the entry could…
The SJC recently issued a decision addressing which offenses qualify as predicate offenses for a dangerousness hearing under G.L. c.276, §58A: Commonwealth v. Barnes and Commonwealth v. Scione. In Barnes, the Court ruled that a violation of G.L. c.265, §23A (rape of child aggravated by age difference, i.e., statutory rape)…
The Supreme Judicial Court recently issued a decision – Commonwealth v. Johnson – which affirmed the denial of the defendant’s motion to suppress historical GPS location data recorded without a warrant by a device in the defendant’s ankle bracelet during his probation. A divided SJC ruled that the Commonwealth’s act of…
In a recent case – Commonwealth v. Agogo – the Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the suppression of “narcotics seized from the defendant’s crotch area as the result of a strip search,” on the grounds that “the police lacked the requisite probable cause to believe that the defendant had concealed narcotics…
In Commonwealth v. Ferreira, the SJC ruled that the judge erred in permitting the Commonwealth to introduce evidence of a purported adoptive admission by the defendant, but that the error did not warrant the reversal of the defendant’s conviction of first degree murder. The background was as follows. The victim…
The Supreme Judicial Court recently ruled in Commonwealth v. Gallett that the judge erred in limiting defendant St. Jean’s cross-examination of the medical examiner, but that the error did not warrant the reversal of St. Jean’s convictions of first degree murder and armed robbery. The background was as follows. St. Jean, codefendant…
In a recent decision – Commonwealth v. Feliz – the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the imposition of GPS monitoring as a condition of the defendant’s probation and pursuant to G.L. c. 265, §47 was an unconstitutional search under art. 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. The background was…
In a recent case involving the issuance of a restraining order – S.V. v. R.V. – the Appeals Court affirmed the denial of the plaintiff’s motion to extend an abuse prevention order that was issued pursuant to G.L. c.209A. In its decision, the Appeals Court ruled that the judge properly rejected the…
In Commonwealth v. Arias, the Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the suppression of drugs seized from the defendant’s apartment on the grounds that the warrantless search of the apartment was not justified under either the emergency aid exception or the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement. The basic facts were…