Argument: Not yet scheduled.

Keywords: Criminal Law - Probation

Question Presented: Whether a defendant intimidates a witness by making a threat after proceedings are closed; whether a defendant commits the crime of threat to commit a crime, where the threat is communicated only to the child victim’s mother.

Facts: The defendant, Kenneth Hamilton, was incarcerated after violating probation. After leaving prison he left a voicemail message with his former probation officer, blaming her for his incarceration and threatening to …

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Argument: Not yet scheduled.

Keywords: Criminal Law - GPS - Probation - Sex Offenders

Question Presented: Whether a probationer could be held on a finding of probable cause for probation violation because the probation department was unable to supply a GPS device for him to wear.

Facts: The defendant was convicted of a sex offense and ordered to wear a GPS tracking device as a term of his probationary sentence after release from jail. Probation was unable …

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Argument: Not yet scheduled.

Keywords: Criminal Law - Murder

Question Presented: Whether a charge of armed home invasion should have supported an instruction on second-degree felony murder; if so, whether the defendant is entitled to a new trial.

Facts: The defendant and another man came to an apartment armed with handguns. They first threatened the victim’s girlfriend, then shot the victim, who was sitting on the couch, and …

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Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Criminal Law - Statute of Limitations

Question Presented: Whether the Commonwealth may indict a person identified only by their DNA profile, and then amend the indictment after the statute of limitations has run when a person with a matching DNA profile is found.

Facts: In 1991, two separate rapes were committed by an unknown person; the same DNA was recovered in both cases. Fourteen years and 360 days after the first incident, having still …

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Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Criminal Law - Probation - Sex Offenders

Question Presented: Whether a sex offender on probation, required to wear a GPS device but not to secure employment, can be held in violation of probation where he failed to secure employment or housing, and therefore had no place to charge his GPS device.

Facts: The defendant was convicted of a sex offense and later released on probation. The terms of his probation did not require him to secure employment, but did require him to …

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Argument: Not yet scheduled.

Keywords: Criminal Law - Home Invasion

Question Presented: Whether the intent element of home invasion may be proved in two separate ways, which must be indicted separately; whether home invasion may be accomplished by an instrument, such as a weapon.

Facts: The defendant frequently bought drugs from the victim’s apartment. One evening, after the victim opened his door to speak with the defendant, a third man rushed toward the door …

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Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Criminal Law - Criminal Procedure - Lesser Included Offense - Murder

Question Presented: Whether a defendant is entitled to an instruction on the lesser included offense of manslaughter, if a conviction on that offense is barred by the statute of limitations.

Facts: The defendant, Margaret Earle, appeals from her second degree murder conviction following the death of her 20-month-old daughter. The evidence showed that the child had been stomped on by Earle …

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Argument: April 7, 2010

Keywords: Constitutional Law - Criminal Law - Probation - Sex Offenders

Question Presented: Whether a judge can modify a sex offender’s probation to require him to wear a GPS tracking device, absent a probation violation.

Facts: The defendant began the probationary portion of his sentence for a set of sex offense convictions in 2009, after serving 15 years in prison and another four years committed as …

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Amicus due February 16, 2010 - Argument: April 5, 2010

Keywords: Civil Procedure - Criminal Law - Criminal Procedure - Summary Judgment

Question Presented: What proof must a former convict offer at summary judgment to establish that his exoneration qualifies him to sue the Commonwealth for erroneous felony conviction, pursuant to G.L. c. 258D, § 1?

Facts: The plaintiff, Shawn Drumgold, was convicted of a gang-related murder on the testimony of a number of witnesses who claimed to have seen him planning for or en route to …

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Amicus due March 15, 2010 - Argument: May 2010

Keywords: Conspiracy - Criminal Law

Question Presented: Whether Massachusetts should adopt renunciation as a defense to conspiracy, as permitted by the Model Penal Code.

Facts: The defendant and three other high school students formed a plan to conduct a massacre at their high school. The defendant argued at trial that he never had any intent …

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Argument: April 8, 2010 (reserve)

Keywords: Criminal Law - Criminal Procedure - Jury Instructions - Lesser Included Offense

Question Presented: Whether a defendant may be retried on the lesser included offense of assault with a deadly weapon, where the jury should not have been instructed on that offense in the first trial.

Facts: The defendant and a motorcyclist, Frank Merlonghi, shouted threats and obscenities at each other while driving down a two-lane road. At one point the defendant removed his service firearm (he …

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Amicus due March 15, 2010 - Argument: May 2010

Keywords: Constitutional Law - Criminal Law - Criminal Procedure - Judicial Review - Sex Offenders

Question Presented: Whether an improper basis for imprisonment of a sex offender bars the Commonwealth from petitioning for commitment of the offender as a sexually dangerous person.

Facts: Repeat sexual offenders are subject to a mandatory sentence of community parole supervision for life (“CPSL”), a lifetime status equivalent to parole.  G.L. c. 265, § 45.  The petitioner pled …

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