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…
The United States Supreme Court recently reversed a judgment of the Sixth Circuit in Honeycutt v. United States. In the decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled that under 21 U.S.C. §853(a)(1), which mandates forfeiture of property derived from certain drug crimes under federal law, “a defendant may [not] be…
In a recent decision, Commonwealth v. Dayton, the Supreme Judicial Court responded to a reported question: whether, under G.L. c.276, §58A, a defendant who is charged with OUI third offense, must have three prior OUI convictions before he can be subjected to pretrial detention without bail under the statute. The background…
In a recent decision, Commonwealth v. Connolly, the Appeals Court ruled that testimony from a police officer describing a video that he watched, but that the Commonwealth failed to produce in discovery, should not have been admitted. In reversing the defendant’s conviction of assault and battery under G. L. c.…
The Supreme Judicial Court recently issued a decision – Commonwealth v. Lydon – clarifying the trial court’s authority to award jail credit to defendants. In the decision, the Court vacated the judge’s “order denying [the defendant’s] motion for credit for time being served in a house of correction for one…
In Commonwealth v. Davis, the Appeals Court affirmed the allowance of the defendant’s motion to dismiss under Mass.R.Crim.P. 36(b). This rule of criminal procedure addresses a defendant’s right to a speedy trial and allows for a dismissal of the charges where a defendant is not brought to trial within one…
The Supreme Judicial Court recently issued a decision in a petition filed under G. L. c.211, §3, ruling that the public defender’s office, not judges, have the independent authority to decide who represents indigdent defendants in court. In the decision – Deputy Chief Counsel for the Public Defender Division of CPCS…
The Appeals Court recently issued a decision – Commonwealth v. Cooper – clarifying what clarifies as an “accredited” preschool for the purposes of G. L. c. 94C, § 32J, the school zone statute. The defendant was convicted of drug distribution of a class E substance, in a school zone. In its…
In a recent Supreme Judicial Court decision – Commonwealth v. Garvey – the SJC In affirmed the dismissal of the habitual offender portions of the defendant’s indictments and, in the process, clarified subsection (a) of the statute. In the decision, the SJC specifically ruled that that in order to procure enhanced…