Commonwealth v. Doty (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-129-15)
Single buyer-seller drug transaction insufficient to prove conspiracy to distribute cocaine; agreement to sell to third parties required.
Commonwealth
Commonwealth v. Sallop (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-151-15)
Double jeopardy bars resentencing on completed sentences; permits resentencing on uncompleted sentences if aggregate punishment unchanged, with limits on probation revocation.
Reade v. Secretary of the Commonwealth, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-150-15)
Federal disability payments and property tax abatements for disabled veterans, not contingent on financial need, do not qualify a litigant as "indigent" under Massachusetts's fee-waiver statute.
Commonwealth v. Hampton (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-125-15)
Ineffective assistance claim for failure to investigate and interview corroborating witness to self-defense claim. Credibility of such witness properly belongs to jury, not trial judge.
Commonwealth v. Dorazio (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-148-15)
Conviction reversed where trial court admitted evidence of defendant's prior acquittal on unrelated sexual assault charge. Massachusetts Constitution bars such evidence in subsequent criminal prosecutions.
Commonwealth v. Melucci (and six companion cases) (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-124-15)
District Court wrongly dismissed firearms complaints with prejudice based solely on frustration with continuances when no prejudice to defendants was shown.
Commonwealth v. Davis (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-123-15)
Convictions for two counts of robbery from same victim in single episode violate double jeopardy. One indictment dismissed.
Commonwealth v. Bior (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-122-15)
Assault and battery conviction vacated due to reversible error in admitting clerk-magistrate proceedings that undermined defendant's self-defense claim, though evidence was legally sufficient.
Commonwealth v. Freeman, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-146-15)
Prospective application of a law expanding juvenile jurisdiction to seventeen-year-olds does not violate equal protection when the law excludes defendants whose criminal proceedings commenced before the law's effective date.
Commonwealth v. Bruneau (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-145-15)
Defendant found not guilty by reason of mental illness may appeal under G.L. c. 278, § 28. Evidence sufficient to support conviction of second-degree murder.