Commonwealth v. Molina (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-016-14)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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‑11329 COMMONWEALTH vs. ALEXANDER MOLINA. Bristol. October 7, 2013. ‑ January 29, 2014. Present: Ireland, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Botsford, Gants, & Duffly, JJ. Constitutional Law, Admissions and confessions, Voluntariness of statement. Evidence, Admissions and confessions, Voluntariness of statement. Practice, Criminal, Admissions and confessions, Voluntariness of statement. Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on July 21, 2005. A pretrial motion to suppress evidence was heard by David A. McLaughlin, J., and the cases were tried before Richard T. Moses, J. After review by the Appeals Court, the Supreme Judicial Court granted leave to obtain further appellate review. David Keighley for the defendant. David J. Gold, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. BOTSFORD, J. Following a jury trial in the Superior Court, the defendant, Alexander Molina, was convicted of murder in the second degree, unlawful possession of a firearm while not at work or at home, and discharge of a firearm within five hundred feet of a building. The defendant appealed, and the Appeals Court affirmed the convictions. See Commonwealth v. Molina, 81 Mass. App. Ct. 855 (2012). We granted the defendant’s application for further appellate review, limited to issues concerning the admissibility of statements that the defendant made to the police during an interview conducted at the New Bedford police station on March 30, 2005. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm. 1. Background. The facts of the case are summarized in the Appeals Court’s decision, see Molina, 81 Mass. App. Ct. at 856-857; we describe them briefly here. The victim, James Gauoette, was shot to death at around 5 P.M. on March 30, 2005, near the intersection of Ruth and Salisbury Streets in New Bedford. Three eyewitnesses, who were present near that intersection, testified at trial and provided details about their observations of the shooter. Two of the three testified that the shooter wore a mustard-colored or yellow shirt, and two of the three also stated that soon after the shooting, they observed the shooter in a brown jogging suit or brown sweatshirt. At trial, two of the three witnesses identified the defendant as the shooter. At approximately 10 P.M. on the same day, the police prepared to tow a bluish-green Mazda Protegé automobile that was within the environs of the crime scene. The […]