Commonwealth v. Lodge (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-057-16)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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; SJCReportersjc.state.ma.us 14-P-1826 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. KENDALL T. LODGE. No. 14-P-1826. Suffolk. February 1, 2016. – May 20, 2016. Present: Trainor, Meade, & Sullivan, JJ. Firearms. Practice, Criminal, Opening statement, Conduct of prosecutor, Argument by prosecutor, Assistance of counsel. Constitutional Law, Assistance of counsel, Admissions and confessions. Due Process of Law, Assistance of counsel. Evidence, Admission by silence. Complaint received and sworn to in the Dorchester Division of the Boston Municipal Court Department on July 29, 2011. The case was tried before Robert J. McKenna, Jr., J. N. John Magrisso for the defendant. Kathryn E. Leary, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. MEADE, J. After a jury trial, the defendant was convicted of possession of a firearm without a license. On appeal, he claims that the prosecutor’s opening statement improperly appealed to emotion without a factual basis, that the prosecutor’s closing argument improperly commented on the defendant’s post-Miranda silence, and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. We affirm. Background. On July 28, 2011, at approximately 11:45 P.M., Boston police officers responded to a disturbance on Hansborough Street in the Dorchester section of Boston. Upon arriving at Hansborough Street, Officer Robert Robichaud observed a large crowd of approximately forty people standing in the middle of the street yelling at one another. Upon seeing the marked police cruiser, the crowd began to disperse. At the same time, Officer Keith Monahan responded to the same disturbance in an unmarked police cruiser. As he parked and exited his cruiser, Monahan’s attention was immediately drawn to a blue Toyota Corolla automobile moving towards him because the middle passenger in the back seat, later identified as the defendant, was sitting “almost up against the ceiling.” Monahan made eye contact with the defendant, who looked “very surprised, [and] wide-eyed.” The defendant “immediately turned away, looked down towards his middle leg area and lunged forward very quickly.” After making these observations, Monahan told the driver of the Corolla to stop. The driver began to stop; however, once Monahan was within a few feet of the car, the driver accelerated. The driver only stopped when another police cruiser blocked the Corolla’s path. The police ordered the occupants out of the car and to keep their hands up; the defendant remained inside the car and kept his hands out of Monahan’s sight. […]