In Commonwealth v. D.M., the SJC reversed the single justice’s denial of the Commonwealth’s petition for relief from an interlocutory order of the Juvenile Court, requiring the Commonwealth to reveal the identity of an informant. The facts are as follows. “Acting on information provided by a confidential informant, the Boston police apprehended, searched, and arrested the juvenile, … Read more

In Carpenter v. United States (2018),  the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that under the Fourth Amendment, the government must obtain a warrant supported by probable cause in order to procure from a telecommunication company the historical cell-site location information (CSLI) for a cellular telephone. The background was as follows. In 2011, police officers investigating a … Read more

In Commonwealth v. Buckley (February 14, 20180, the SJC affirmed the lower courts denial of the defendant’s motion to suppress, and “declined to disturb the general rule” set forth in Commonwealth v. Santana(1955), “that a traffic stop constitutes a ‘reasonable’ ‘seizure’ for purposes of art. 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights where a police officer has observed … Read more

In Commonwealth v. Ortiz(February 12, 2018), the SJC affirmed the suppression of firearms seized  by the police from the defendant’s vehicle.  It ruled that the defendant’s “consent to allow the police to search for narcotics or firearms ‘in the vehicle’” did not authorize the “officer to search under the hood of the vehicle and, as part of … Read more

In Ramirez v. Commonwealth(April 17, 2018), the SJC reversed the denial of the defendant’s motion to dismiss a complaint charging him with unlawful possession of a stun gun under Massachusetts gun law statute, because the statute’s “absolute prohibition against civilian possession of stun guns … is in violation of the Second Amendment.” The facts are … Read more

In Commonwealth v. Dabney ( 2018), the SJC affirmed the defendant’s convictions of human trafficking and related offenses. In doing so, the SJC rejected the defendant’s contention “that his actions could not constitute human trafficking because they did not involve force or coercion, and the victim willingly engaged in prostitution.” The facts are as follows. “Around the time … Read more

In Commonwealth v. Mauricio. after appealing the denial of a motion to suppress, the SJC reversed denial of the suppression of images retrieved by the police during a warrantless search of a digital camera that was seized from the defendant. The facts are as follows:  The defendant was arrested as a suspect in a breaking and … Read more

On August 31, 2017, Secretary of Public Safety and Security Daniel J. Bennett directed that the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) legal staff conduct an investigation into the circumstances under which the Commonwealth had failed to provide certain documents maintained by the State Police Crime Laboratory’s Office of Alcohol Testing (OAT) to defense counsel in … Read more

One of the means by which the police prosecute Operating Under the Influence charges throughout the United States are field sobriety exercises(also commonly known as field sobriety tests or “FST’s”). These include the one legged stand and the walk and turn.  The FST’s were developed decades ago, and they are only considered to be indicators … Read more

On June 16, 2017, The judge in the case of Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter in Taunton Juvenile Court found Ms. Carter guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter Caused by Wanton and Reckless Conduct after a two week bench trial.  Ms. Carter was alleged to have encouraged her boyfriend, Conrad Roy, to commit suicide via text messages.  The … Read more