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…
In Commonwealth v. Vasquez, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that although the judge erred in admitting evidence of prior misconduct by the defendant that resembled his conduct in the present case, the error did not create a substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice. The background was as follows. “[T]he…
The Appeals Court recently issued a decision in Commonwealth v. Luna reversing the trial court’s denial of the defendant’s motion to suppress items seized during the warrantless search of his vehicle. The reversal was based on the ground that “the Springfield police exceeded their territorial jurisdiction” by conducting the search in…
In Commonwealth v. Arias, the Appeals Court reversed the trial judge’s allowance of the defendant’s motion to suppress and held that the warrantless entry by the police into the apartment building where the defendant resided was justified under the emergency aid doctrine. The basic facts were as follows. “[T]he Lawrence…
The Supreme Judicial Court recently issued a decision in Commonwealth v. Sullivan affirming the defendant’s conviction of first degree murder, despite the fact that testimony about an apparent match between DNA from the crime scene and the defendant’s DNA profile in the CODIS database should not have been admitted. The background…
The Supreme Judicial Court recently issued a decision in Commonwealth v. Villalobos, which addressed issues related to sleeping jurors. The SJC reversed the defendant’s convictions because the judge failed to respond adequately to a report that two jurors had been asleep during portions of the trial. The background was as…
In a recent decision – Commonwealth v. Smith – the Appeals Court affirmed the defendant’s conviction of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, the Appeals Court rejected the defendant’s contention that the testimony of a police expert on drug use and distribution “was admitted improperly because it was based on hearsay…
The Massachusetts Sentencing Commission recently approved a series of changes to the Massachusetts Sentencing Guidelines. The general formula (criminal history and offense level) for calculating a sentence range has remained the same, but the new guidelines have a number of major changes. The key changes are as follows: The Commission recommends…
In a recent Appeals Court decision, Commonwealth v. Ross, the Appeals Court ruled that the evidence was sufficient to support the defendant’s conviction of negligent operation of a motor vehicle. The background was as follows. At 9:50 p.m., a police officer observed the defendant driving his vehicle at a high rate…
The Supreme Judicial Court recently issued a decision – Commonwealth v. Wolfe – which vacated a defendant’s conviction of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol because the judge erroneously instructed that the jury “should disregard the lack of evidence of a breathalyzer test, blood test, or field…