Commonwealth v. Diaz (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-195-17)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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-11812 COMMONWEALTH vs. FAUSTINO DIAZ, JR. Hampden. September 8, 2017. – December 8, 2017. Present: Gants, C.J., Lenk, Gaziano, Budd, & Kafker, JJ. Homicide. Practice, Criminal, Argument by prosecutor, Capital case. Evidence, Chain of custody. Indictment found and returned in the Superior Court Department on February 15, 2013. The case was tried before Constance M. Sweeney, J. Andrew S. Crouch for the defendant. Katherine E. McMahon, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. GAZIANO, J. In January, 1991, the victim was found lying across her bed, with her face covered in blood, at a housing complex for the elderly in Springfield. She had been sexually assaulted and severely beaten. An autopsy determined that she had suffered numerous broken bones in her face, sternum, and ribs, and that she died as a result of blunt force trauma. Police interviewed individuals who knew the victim and also employees who worked at the complex, including maintenance, nursing, and cleaning staff. The defendant, who was a part-time maintenance worker there, was one of those interviewed. No arrests were made, and no suspect was identified. In 2012, Springfield police reopened the investigation. They sought to interview men, including the defendant, who had had access to the housing complex and to collect deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) samples from them. Investigators visited the defendant at his place of employment, and he consented to the taking of a DNA sample. Approximately one month later, test results indicated that the defendant’s DNA matched the DNA profile from sperm found in the victim’s body. The defendant was arrested and indicted on charges of murder in the first degree and aggravated rape.[1] At trial, the Commonwealth proceeded on theories of deliberate premeditation, extreme atrocity or cruelty, and felony-murder with aggravated rape as the predicate felony. A Superior Court jury found the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree on all three theories. On appeal, the defendant argues that the prosecutor presented arguments and asked the jury to draw inferences from facts that had been excluded from their consideration; made multiple misstatements of fact in her closing argument; suggested that she had personal knowledge of the case beyond the evidence that had been presented to the jury; argued in a manner designed to appeal to the jury’s emotions and […]