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 …

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Argument: March 2, 2010

Keywords: Public Employees - Torts

Question Presented: Whether the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (“OCME”) owes a duty to next of kin to provide proper identification, after being notified that it may have released misidentified remains.

Facts: The plaintiffs’ son was killed in a plane crash along with the pilot. After receiving and burying their son’s remains, the parents obtained a copy of the autopsy report …

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Amicus due February 16, 2010 - Argument: May 4, 2010

Keywords: Constitutional Law - Environmental Law - Takings

Question Presented: Whether enforcement of the Massachusetts Watershed Management Act, GL. c. 92A½, effects a regulatory taking requiring just compensation under the Massachusetts Constitution.  

Facts: The Watershed Management Act of 1992 prohibits alterations to land within 200 feet of a lake. GL. c. 92A½.  However, the Act allows construction of a single family dwelling on …

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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 April 19, 2010 - Argument: May 2010

Keywords: Criminal Procedure

Question Presented: Whether a District Court judge properly issued a $5,000 sanction against the Commonwealth for failure to discover a police report in a cross-claim filed by the defendant.

Facts: In an assault and battery case where both parties claimed the other was the agressor, the Commonwealth provided automatic discovery materials to the defendant, including a police report and several …

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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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Amicus due February 16, 2010 - Argument: May 3, 2010

Keywords: Criminal Procedure - Expert Testimony - Search and Seizure

Question Presented: Whether a driveway technically belonging to three apartments, but actually only used by one apartment, is on that apartment’s curtilage; whether the judge had sufficient evidence that a field test for cocaine was widely accepted in other jurisdictions.

Facts: Police obtained a search warrant for the defendant’s home after a field test indicated that bags found in the defendant’s trash were dusted in cocaine. The defendant’s …

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Argument: April 7, 2010

Keywords: Tax

Question Presented: Whether Onex was a manufacturing corporation pursuant to G.L. c. 63 § 42B, and therefore entitled to a sales and use tax exemption, during a period when it was developing specifications for a microchip but had not yet ordered it manufactured.  

Facts: Between August 1, 1999 and September 21, 2001 (the “audit period”), Onex designed the hardware and software of a microchip and related systems. The result was a blueprint containing technical …

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

Keywords: Criminal Procedure - First Complaint - Hearsay - Probation - Sex Offenders

Question Presented: Whether the judge in a probation revocation hearing properly relied on a videotape of a four-year-old girl in revoking the defendant’s probation, even though she later recanted her testimony.

Facts: The defendant’s probation was revoked after his four-year-old granddaughter reported that he had touched her sexually. The Commonwealth submitted hearsay evidence of the child’s report, including most significantly …

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Amicus due February 16, 2010 - Argument: May 4, 2010

Keywords: Administrative Law - Environmental Law - Local Government - Zoning

Question Presented: Whether a Town of Kingston zoning amendment should be invalidated if the town failed to comply with the procedure for creating a “smart growth” zoning overlay district pursuant to G.L. c. 40R.

Facts: At the request of a developer, the Town of Kingston submitted an application to the Department of Housing and Community Development (“DHCD”) for approval of a smart growth overlay district …

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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 3, 2010

Keywords: Administrative Law - Affordable Housing - Local Government - Zoning

Question Presented: Whether the Housing Appeals Committee had power to strike down conditions imposed by a zoning board of appeals, on the ground that the board lacked authority to impose the conditions.

Facts: Attitash, a developer, applied to the zoning board of appeals for the city of Amesbury for a comprehensive permit to develop low income housing. The board granted the application with …

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