On January 12, the Supreme Judicial Court issued an opinion, In the Matter of a Grand Jury Investigation, which held that a grand jury subpoena, issued to a law firm for a cell phone containing text messages or other communications that the Commonwealth contended were evidence of a crime, and…
“Eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, playing a role in 72% of convictions overturned through DNA testing.” —Innocence Project. Two cases recently decided on the same day by the Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) have made important strides in helping prevent wrongful convictions due to misidentification. …
A new federal spending law enshrines in statutory form the policy that federal agents will no longer seek to interfere with medical marijuana retail establishments in states where they are legal. As Massachusetts law with regard to marijuana possession and use continues to evolve, this change lessens the likelihood that…
The image of an informant wearing a wire or secretly recording phone conversations during a criminal investigation is extremely common on television and in the movies. In Massachusetts, however, the use of a wiretap as an investigative tool of law enforcement is subject to extremely strict limits and protections that…
The Supreme Judicial Court’s October 10, 2014 decision in Glovsky v. Roche Bros. Supermarkets, Inc., is now the high-water mark in Massachusetts for the right to access private property, over the objection of the property owner, in order to fulfill a constitutional right. The decision addresses the right of a…
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) on Friday, October 10, 2014 decided Commonwealth v. Jason LeClair, No. SJC-11469, a Fifth Amendment case. It did not make new law but reiterated that the scope of the Fifth Amendment privilege is broad and liberally construed, something that many lawyers, including prosecutors, and…