Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Criminal Procedure - Evidence

Question Presented: Whether an incriminating statement must be suppressed where police delayed granting the defendant’s request for a phone call until after he confessed, but still permitted the phone call within one hour of arrival at the station.

Facts: The defendant was arrested after selling cocaine to undercover police officers. A substantial quantity of cocaine was then found in the apartment he shared with his cousin. At the station …

Read more »

Argument: May 2010

Keywords: Constitutional Law - Criminal Procedure - Evidence - Search and Seizure

Question Presented: Whether a defendant’s conclusory motion to suppress evidence permitted him to challenge the reliability of a 911 call after the close of evidence; whether an anonymous statement that the defendant was waving a gun was sufficiently reliable to justify an investigatory stop.

Facts: Police received an anonymous 911 call that a person was loading a firearm and waving it in the air. The suspect was described as a black male wearing a gray …

Read more »

Argument: May 2010

Keywords: Criminal Procedure - Evidence

Question Presented: Whether a district court judge properly fined the Commonwealth $25,000 for permitting the state police to test evidence in alleged violation of an ex parte order.

Facts: Several officers conducted a warrantless search of a car on the basis of a strong odor of fresh (not smoked) marijuana. They seized an unlicensed firearm and a small plastic …

Read more »

Argument: May 3, 2010

Keywords: Criminal Procedure - Domestic Violence - Evidence - Hearsay

Question Presented: Whether a defendant forfeited the right to object to prior statements made by the alleged victim of a crime, where he married her in order to allow her to claim the marital privilege against testifying.

Facts: The alleged victim, the defendant’s then-girlfriend, told her best friend and her sister that the defendant attempted to strangle her, and, while brandishing a knife, threatened to kill her …

Read more »

Amicus due February 16, 2010 - Argument: March 2, 2010

Keywords: Criminal Procedure - Evidence - GPS - Hearsay - Probation

Question Presented: Whether printed documents from a GPS monitoring center are admissible in a probation revocation hearing.

Facts: The defendant received both jail time and a probationary sentence after a number of assaults against his wife. His probation specified that he wear a GPS tracking device and remain …

Read more »

Amicus due February 16, 2010 - Argument: March 2, 2010

Keywords: Constitutional Law - Criminal Procedure - Evidence - First Complaint

Question Presented: Whether a report by a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) is admissible in a rape trial, either as a medical record or a prior consistent statement.

Facts: A jury convicted the defendant of crimes included aggravated rape after the victim testified that he attacked her, digitally raped her, picked up her purse, and then ran away when …

Read more »