Commonwealth v. Jackson — Loaded-firearm offense requires knowledge
The Massachusetts Appeals Court held that carrying a loaded firearm while intoxicated requires proof the defendant knew the weapon was loaded.
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Criminal
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Commonwealth v. Walrond — Appeals Court treats intentional phone viewing as possession for probation
The Massachusetts Appeals Court held that intentionally viewing child sexual abuse material on a phone can constitute possession under a probation condition, while inadvertent caching alone is insufficient.
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Commonwealth v. Vihaan V. — Appeals Court rejects association-based patfrisk
The Massachusetts Appeals Court held that a firearm report and association with a matching passenger did not create individualized reasonable suspicion to frisk a juvenile.
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Commonwealth v. Khadgi — Appeals Court counts defense testimony in harmless-error review
The Massachusetts Appeals Court held that harmless-error review of a confrontation claim includes the defendant’s testimony and the entire trial record.
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Commonwealth v. Hayes — Appeals Court upholds digital searches and sentence reduction
The Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld broad but evidence-focused device searches, a true-threat conviction, electronic-authentication instructions, and a later sentence reduction.
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Commonwealth v. Beechman — Equally divided Appeals Court affirms firearm suppression
An equally divided Massachusetts Appeals Court affirmed suppression of a firearm found after police impounded and searched an unregistered SUV parked off the public way.
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Commonwealth v. Goulart — Appeals Court affirms convictions and rejects self-help impoundment
The Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld child-rape convictions after curative instructions and ruled that parties cannot impose appellate secrecy without a motion and good cause.
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Commonwealth v. Pinney — Appeals Court vacates conviction over substitute DNA analysts
The Massachusetts Appeals Court vacated an involuntary-manslaughter conviction because substitute DNA analysts conveyed testimonial findings from an absent analyst and the error was not harmless.
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Figueroa — Appeals Court permits untranslated interview for impeachment
The Massachusetts Appeals Court preserved trial-judge discretion to allow a detective’s account of a Spanish interview for rebuttal without an English transcript.
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Greaves — Appeals Court suppresses backpack search
The Massachusetts Appeals Court held that police could not open a soft backpack without evidence that an exterior patfrisk would be futile or unsafe.
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Commonwealth v. Figueroa — Excessive Prior Bad Act Evidence Vacates Child Sexual Abuse Convictions
The Massachusetts Appeals Court vacated all judgments and set aside all verdicts in a child sexual abuse prosecution, holding that the trial judge abused her discretion by allowing prior bad act testimony covering forty-two transcript pages to overwhelm the twenty-six pages of testimony on the charged conduct. The court stressed that trial judges have an independent duty to control the volume of prior bad act evidence and that limiting instructions cannot cure the prejudice when such evidence is so voluminous as to invite a propensity inference in a credibility-dependent case.
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Tomaso — Court Vacates SDP Commitment Where Experts Relied on Dismissed Charges Without Required Voir Dire
The Massachusetts Appeals Court vacated a sexually dangerous person (SDP) civil commitment after finding that all three Commonwealth experts had based their sexual sadism disorder diagnoses almost entirely on facts from police reports for charges dismissed in 2002 and 2003. Because the petitioner requested a voir dire on independent admissibility and the Commonwealth never showed the complainants could or would testify, allowing the experts to rely on those allegations without an admissibility hearing was reversible error under Markvart and Department of Youth Servs. v. A Juvenile.
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Commonwealth v. Carvalho — Driving Dump Truck with Raised Body Establishes Probable Cause for Negligent Operation Without Evidence of Erratic Driving
The Massachusetts Appeals Court reversed the dismissal of a negligent operation complaint against a dump truck driver who forgot to lower the truck’s raised body before driving under a highway overpass, holding that the vehicle’s dangerous condition — not erratic driving — established probable cause under G. L. c. 90, § 24 (2) (a).
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Doe v. SORB — Appeals Court Holds Hearsay Challenge Moot After Subsequent Convictions, Affirms Level 3 Reclassification
The Massachusetts Appeals Court held that a sex offender’s subsequent criminal convictions rendered moot his challenge to the reliability of hearsay evidence used in his SORB reclassification from level 2 to level 3, affirming the board’s decision in a case of first impression for published classification appeals.