Commonwealth v. Rousseau; Commonwealth v. Dreslinski (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-097-13)

NOTICE:  All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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‑11227 SJC-11228   COMMONWEALTH  vs.  JOHN ROUSSEAU. COMMONWEALTH  vs.  MICHAEL DRESLINSKI. Worcester.     February 7, 2013.  ‑  June 5, 2013. Present:  Ireland, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Botsford, Gants, Duffly, & Lenk, JJ.   Burning of Property.  Malicious Injury to Property.  Probable Cause.  Search and Seizure, Affidavit, Probable cause, Warrant, Automobile, Expectation of privacy.  Practice, Criminal, Affidavit, Warrant, Standing, Probation, Sentence, Instructions to jury, Admissions and confessions.  Evidence, Relevancy and materiality, Common criminal enterprise.  Global Positioning System Device.       Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on October 23, 2007; December 21, 2007; and September 2, 2009.   After consolidation, a pretrial motion to suppress evidence was heard by Robert C. Cosgrove, J., and the cases were tried before John S. McCann, J.   The Supreme Judicial Court on its own initiative transferred the case from the Appeals Court.   Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on October 23, 2007; December 21, 2007; and September 2, 2009.   After consolidation, a pretrial motion to suppress evidence was heard by Robert C. Cosgrove, J., and the cases were tried before John S. McCann, J.     The Supreme Judicial Court on its own initiative transferred the case from the Appeals Court.     Brandon L. Campbell for John Rousseau. Andrew S. Crouch for Michael Dreslinski. Eileen M. O’Brien & Jennifer L. Sullivan, Assistant Attorneys General, for the Commonwealth. Beth L. Eisenberg, Committee for Public Counsel Services, & Matthew R. Segal & John Reinstein, for Committee for Public Counsel Services & another, amici curiae, submitted a brief. Kit Walsh, for Electronic Frontier Foundation, amicus curiae, submitted a brief.     CORDY, J.  In separate trials, John Rousseau and Michael Dreslinski were each convicted of four indictments charging arson, G. L. c. 266, § 2; one indictment charging breaking and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony, G. L. c. 266, § 16; one indictment charging malicious destruction of property over $ 250, G. L. c. 266, § 127; and one indictment charging malicious injury to a railroad, G. L. c. 160, § 225.  The convictions arose out of their participation in a series of criminal acts involving the burning and vandalizing of four different properties during the summer of 2007.  The defendants appealed, and we transferred the cases to this court on our own motion.   On appeal, both defendants argue that a warrant secured by the State […]

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