Commonwealth v. Leslie (and five companion cases) (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-072-17)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA, 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us SJC-12176 COMMONWEALTH vs. BOBBY LESLIE (and five companion cases[1]). Suffolk. November 7, 2016. – May 9, 2017. Present: Gants, C.J., Botsford, Lenk, Hines, Gaziano, Lowy, & Budd, JJ.[2] Firearms. Practice, Criminal, Motion to suppress. Constitutional Law, Search and seizure, Privacy. Search and Seizure, Multiple occupancy building, Curtilage, Expectation of privacy. Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on December 16, 2014. Pretrial motions to suppress evidence were heard by Charles M. Hely, J. An application for leave to prosecute an interlocutory appeal was allowed by Hines, J., in the Supreme Judicial Court for the county of Suffolk, and the appeal was reported by her to the Appeals Court. The Supreme Judicial Court granted an application for direct appellate review. Zachary Hillman, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. Patrick Levin, Committee for Public Counsel Services, for Bobby Leslie. MarySita Miles for Lacy Price. HINES, J. The defendants, Bobby Leslie and Lacy Price, were indicted on charges of unlawful possession of a sawed-off shotgun,[3] G. L. c. 269, § 10 (c); unlawful possession of a loaded firearm, G. L. c. 269, § 10 (n); and possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card, G. L. c. 269, § 10 (h) (1).[4] The indictments arose from a May, 2014, warrantless search of the porch and side yard of a three-family home in the Dorchester section of Boston where the defendant Price resided. The search revealed a loaded sawed-off shotgun under the porch. Leslie was arrested at the scene, and after further investigation, Price was arrested. A judge of the Superior Court allowed the defendants’ motions to suppress the sawed-off shotgun on the ground that a warrant was required to search the area under the porch in light of Florida v. Jardines, 133 S. Ct. 1409, 1417 (2013), and art. 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. The Commonwealth filed a timely appeal from the allowance of the defendants’ motions to suppress. A single justice of this court granted leave to pursue an interlocutory appeal and reported the case to the Appeals Court. We allowed the defendants’ application for direct appellate review to clarify the application of the Jardines warrant requirement to a search in a multifamily home. Following the analytical framework set out in Jardines, 133 S. Ct. at 1414-1417, we conclude that the side yard […]