Commonwealth v. Copney (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-107-14)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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‑11077 COMMONWEALTH vs. JABRAI JORDAN COPNEY. Middlesex. February 7, 2014. ‑ June 17, 2014. Present: Ireland, C.J., Spina, Botsford, Gants, & Lenk, JJ. Homicide. Felony-Murder Rule. Robbery. Firearms. Search and Seizure, Expectation of privacy, Emergency. Evidence, Prior misconduct. Abandoned Property. Practice, Criminal, Motion to suppress, Mistrial, Instructions to jury, Capital case. Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on June 25, 2009. A pretrial motion to suppress evidence was heard by Wendie I. Gershengorn, J., and the cases were tried before John T. Lu, J. Stephen Paul Maidman for the defendant. Michael A. Kaneb, Assistant District Attorney (David M. Solet, Assistant District Attorney, with him) for the Commonwealth. SPINA, J. The defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree on a theory of felony-murder, the predicate felony being attempted armed robbery. He also was convicted of carrying a firearm without a license. On appeal the defendant contends that the judge erred (1) by denying his motion to suppress evidence seized pursuant to a warrant that was based on observations made during an earlier warrantless entry of a college dormitory room where he had been staying; (2) by admitting evidence of his prior bad acts; (3) by denying his motion for a mistrial based on the Commonwealth’s response to his Bowden defense; and (4) by failing to instruct the jury that they could not convict him of felony-murder in the first degree based on the firearms conviction. We affirm the convictions and decline the request to grant relief under G. L. c. 278, § 33E. 1. Background. The jury could have found the following facts. We reserve other details for discussion of the issues. During the fall of 2008 and spring of 2009, the defendant, who was from New York City, was a frequent overnight guest in the Lowell House dormitory room of his girl friend, Brittany Smith, a senior at Harvard University (Harvard). In May, 2009, he met the victim, a twenty-one year old Cambridge resident who regularly sold marijuana to Harvard students. On or about May 17 he devised a plan to rob the victim. He told the victim that he was a Harvard student and that he lived at Kirkland House. He said he wanted to buy three pounds of marijuana. The defendant arranged […]