In Commonwealth v. Goncalves-Mendez, the Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the allowance of the defendant’s motion to suppress, because the impoundment of his vehicle was unreasonable in light of his “passenger’s availability to drive and the failure by police to ask the defendant whether the passenger taking custody of the vehicle…
In Commonwealth v. Tavares, the Supreme Judicial Court reversed the denial of the defendant’s motion to suppress evidence obtained from the search and seizure of a motor vehicle in which he was a passenger, because the police officer improperly extended the duration of the stop of the vehicle. The basic facts…
In a recent decision – Commonwealth v. Torres-Pagan – the Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the suppression of evidence that was seized as a result of an improper patfrisk of the defendant. The basic facts were as follows. “While on patrol …, two officers observed a motor vehicle with a cracked windshield…
In Commonwealth v. Hart, the Appeals Court affirmed the suppression of evidence discovered during the execution of a search warrant. In its decision, the Court opined that “a single observation of a firearm in [the defendant’s] residence sixty days prior to the application for [the] warrant [did] not establish probable…
In Commonwealth v. Almonor, which “raises an issue of first impression in Massachusetts,” the Supreme Judicial Court opined that the warrantless “police action causing [the defendant’s] cell phone to reveal its real-time location constitute[d] a search in the constitutional sense under … art. 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights.”…
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 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. 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…