Commonwealth v. Fulgiam (and 13 companion cases) (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-071-17)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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-11674 COMMONWEALTH vs. EARL T. FULGIAM (and thirteen companion cases[1]). Suffolk. October 11, 2016. – May 5, 2017. Present: Gants, C.J., Botsford, Lenk, Hines, Lowy, & Budd, JJ.[2] Homicide. Felony-Murder Rule. Robbery. Firearms. Cellular Telephone. Constitutional Law, Search and seizure, Probable cause. Search and Seizure, Warrant, Probable cause. Probable Cause. Evidence, Fingerprints, Expert opinion, Prior misconduct, Relevancy and materiality. Witness, Expert. Practice, Criminal, Capital case, Warrant. Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on December 21, 2011. The cases were tried before Peter M. Lauriat, J. Elizabeth Caddick for Earl T. Fulgiam. Esther J. Horwich for Michael T. Corbin. Zachary Hillman, Assistant District Attorney (John P. Pappas, Assistant District Attorney, also present) for the Commonwealth. HINES, J. On July 25, 2011, armed intruders entered the apartment occupied by the victims, Kevin Thomas, Jr., and Billie Marie Kee, who were robbed and killed. In May, 2013, a Superior Court jury found the defendants, Earl T. Fulgiam and Michael T. Corbin, guilty as joint venturers of murder in the first degree of both victims based on the theories of deliberate premeditation, extreme atrocity or cruelty, and felony-murder with armed robbery as the predicate felony. The defendants also were convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of a large capacity feeding device.[3] On appeal, the defendants assert error in the admission of (1) certain cellular telephone records in violation of their rights under art. 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights and the Fourth and Sixth Amendments to the United States Constitution; (2) fingerprint cards attributed to the defendants without proper authentication or reliability; and (3) expert testimony related to the fingerprint analysis. Corbin independently claims that repeated references to gang affiliation created a substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice. We affirm the convictions and decline to grant relief pursuant to G. L. c. 278, § 33E. Background. We summarize the evidence as the jury could have found it, reserving additional facts for later discussion. On July 25, 2011, a couple who lived on the second floor of an apartment building on Hyde Park Avenue, in the Hyde Park section of Boston, awoke to the sound of gunshots at around 11:55 P.M. They heard between six and eight gunshots that the woman believed came from […]