On May 24, 2012, the Massachusetts Court of Appeals decided Commonwealth v. Nutbrown, overruling the lower court’s decision to exclude statements against penal interests.  The Court reversed the judgement of the lower court and deemed exclusion of two such statements to be improper and not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt....

What Constitutes a Strip Search and Where can it be conducted? Commonwealth v. Morales, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, May 29, 2012 The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld suppression of drugs retrieved from the Defendant’s buttocks as a unreasonable strip search.  Although the court concluded there existed sufficient probable cause to...

Judge Mark Farrell and his work with Massachusetts to Develop Rehabilitative Gambling Courts in Massachusetts. What is rehabilitative justice?  In Massachusetts, those individuals facing drug and alcohol charges stemming from addictions have the opportunity to enter what is referred to as “Drug Court.”  Under the supervision of Drug Court, individuals...

Attorney General Martha Coakley, state Sen. Katherine Clark (D-Melrose) and House Judiciary Chair Eugene L. O’Flaherty (D-Charlestown) have teamed up to close a gap in the state’s drunkendriving law that opened up with a Supreme Judicial Court decision last week. The SJC ruled late last week that when it comes...

Appealing a Guilty Plea:  Commonwealth vs. Jose Negron, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Opinion Issued May 2, 2012, Subject:           Guilty Plea Appeals based upon Duplicitous Charges and Double Jeopardy Defendant appealed his guilty plea to armed assault in a dwelling on the ground that it was duplicative of the conviction...

Massachusetts CORI Reform -and Sealing Criminal Records In July 2010, Massachusetts passed a law restricting access to criminal records and amending the waiting period for sealing criminal records.  The majority of the law, as passed in 2010, goes into effect on May 4, 2012. Employer Access to CORI In sum,...

Case:  COMMONWEALTH vs. Michael HOLLOWAY, Court:  Massachusetts Court of Appeals, Opinion Rendered:  March 30, 2012, Subject:  Scope of a Search Incident to Arrest Defendant, Michael Holloway, prevailed on his Motion to Suppress the seizure of a bicycle as the fruit of a warrantless search.  Commonwealth appealed the decision. On August...

Commonwealth v. Michael Muller, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Opinion Issued March 9, 2012, Subject:  Duplicitous Charges.  Defendant appealed his conviction for both armed robbery and assault by means of a dangerous weapon.  He contends that the convictions of both are duplicative.  The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts upheld the convictions...

Commonwealth v. Arias,  Massachusetts Court of Appeals,  Decision Issued:  February 28, 2012,  Subject(s):  Consent, Reliability of Informants.   In this case the Defendant, Henry Arias, appealed his conviction on the basis that his Motion to Suppress was improperly denied and that the trial court failed to provide him an evidentiary...