Articles Posted in Important SJC Decisions

         Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer must continue to exercise preemptory challenges when prosecutors attempt to exclude minority jurors.  A criminal defense is entitled a a jury that represents a cross-section of the community.  Cultural stereotypes are reinforced when prosecutors are allowed to rely on them to exclude…

The Massachusetts Supreme Court decided the case of Commonwealth v. Edward Long today.  The decision lowers the burden to prove racial profiling in traffic stops.  The decision is very important because it will help eliminate racial profiling in traffic stops and move our country toward greater racial equality. The case…

The Tragic death of George Floyd and the protests that have followed shine a new light on two major Massachusetts Supreme Court cases involving Race and how our Constitution is going to be interpreted. The tragic death of George Floyd involves shocking actions that are likely to result in murder…

Gun crimes in Massachusetts often involve issues of whether there was a Constitutional basis for police action.  Here are some common legal issues:  Was there Reasonable suspicion to stop your car; if there was reasonable suspicion, was there a basis to order you from the car; if there was a…

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court heard oral arguments in the case of Commonwealth v. Bohigian on February 10, 2020, dealing with the issue of the admissibility of a blood test in a OUI case involving Serious Bodily injury.  The case arose out of the Westboro District Court. What is Serious…

The Massachusetts Supreme Court will address the issue of when a seizure occurred in the case of Commonwealth v. Evelyn.  The Evelyn case is SJC-12808 and was argued on January 7, 2020. This case involved a young black man running from the police while the police were investigating a shooting…

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court heard oral arguments on March 3rd in the case of Commonwealth v. Edward Long, SJC-12868, that deal with the issue of disparity treatment and discriminatory enforcement of traffic laws by the Boston police.  In this case, the defense lawyer presented a compelling statistical case that…

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the trial court’s decision to allow two witnesses’ identification of a robbery suspect as admissible evidence despite the lack of protocol and questions surrounding the identifications’ reliability.  The SJC alternated the procedures going forward requiring an instruction prior to the identification as in Line…

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court allows a juror to sit who was equivocal on whether the jury could be fair and impartial in a case of sexual assault on a child.  You wouldn’t loan money based solely on a borrower’s promise to make payments “to the best of their ability.”…

  Like all things in the law, the answer to the question “is this a seizure?” is “it depends.”  A seizure, under criminal law, is similar to being stopped or detained.  The Massachusetts Declaration of Human Rights and the United States Constitution protect citizens from unreasonable seizures.  A seizure does…