Plourde v. Police Department of Lawrence (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-037-14)
Municipality must pay police captain's accrued compensatory time under Wage Act; special act governing municipal budgets does not override wage payment obligations.
Category Appeals Court Opinions
Commonwealth v. Forbes (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-036-14)
Affirmed. Second search warrant supported by probable cause independent of prior illegal warrantless search; informant's statements and police corroboration sufficient.
Commonwealth v. Abrahams (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-034-14)
DNA evidence admissible where defendant remained in custody despite end of sentence when blood sample was collected.
Loring Towers Associates v. Furtick v. Boston Housing Authority (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-033-14)
Housing authority improperly terminated Section 8 benefits without fair process; third-party complaint proper in eviction case; reinstated retroactively.
Commonwealth v. Whitehead (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-032-14)
Officer justified in frisking student and searching backpack on college campus based on ammunition in vehicle, threatening decals, camouflage attire, and aggressive posture.
Commonwealth v. Wallace (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-031-14)
Murder defendants indicted 2002, charged 2010, challenged delay. Court reversed dismissal, finding defendants failed to assert speedy trial rights and suffered no prejudice.
Commonwealth v. Mason (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-030-14)
Affirmed conviction for resisting arrest. Trial court properly denied peremptory challenge inquiry; evidence of challenged jurors' police connections provided race-neutral basis for strikes.
Commonwealth v. Reddy (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-029-14)
Assault conviction vacated where prosecutor improperly emphasized judge's prior finding that defendant was substantially likely to abuse victim; violation of abuse prevention order conviction affirmed.
Theophilopoulos, et al. v. Board of Health of Salem, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-028-14)
Appeals Court reverses Superior Court judgment vacating Board of Health approval of waste transfer station expansion, holding it was minor rather than major modification to site assignment.
Commonwealth v. Gray (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-027-14)
Location of assault and battery is not an essential element of the crime and therefore immaterial to its proof.